Red Bank has declared February T. Thomas Fortune Month in honor of the prominent journalist, writer and civil rights activist. Preservationists and community members are raising funds to save the deteriorating T. Thomas Fortune House. To the average passerby, the white Empire style house at 94 Drs. James Parker Blvd. in Red Bank looks like any other vacant property.
With boarded-up windows and an aging façade, it can be hard to understand why dozens of advocates from throughout the state are working so hard to raise millions of dollars to spare the home from the bulldozer.
Unless, of course, one has heard the story of T. Thomas Fortune.
“Many people say that he was the bridge to the modern-day civil rights movement,” said Gilda Rogers, a local writer and committee member of the T. Thomas Fortune House Project.
“At a time when African-Americans didn’t have a voice, he used the medium of journalism as a political tool to address the inequalities he saw in America.”
T. Thomas Fortune To celebrate Black History Month, the Borough Council has declared February as T. Thomas Fortune Month, honoring of one of the most influential men to call Red Bank home.
Born in Jackson County, Fla., in 1856, Fortune grew up in an era of slavery and Civil War reconstruction. Despite difficult beginnings, he studied hard in school and chased down opportunities, including working as a page in the Florida State Senate and as an apprentice printer for a local newspaper.
After his family was threatened by the Ku Klux Klan and forced to leave Florida, Fortune went on to study law and journalism at Howard University before settling in New York City in 1881 and founding what became known as the New York Age newspaper, according to the project website.
The New York Age would become the most widely read African-American newspaper of the time. In 1901, Fortune moved to the house in Red Bank where he would continue his work with an international newspaper, The Negro World. It has been reputed to be the most widely distributed newspaper in the world at that time, reaching audiences in North and Central America, the Caribbean, Africa and Europe
“Scholars and historians all tell us that T. Thomas Fortune was the dean of African-American journalism in late 19th and early 20th century,” said Peter Primavera, a preservation consultant and project manager for the Fortune House Project. “His accomplishments — African-American or not — were simply incredible.”
Through his articles and pointed editorials decrying the inequities of contemporary American life, Fortune pushed not only for civil rights, but for free speech rights in general, Primavera said.
A regular associate of civil rights icons such as Booker T. Washington and Marcus Garvey, Fortune also co-founded the National Afro-American League, an anti-discrimination league that served as a forerunner to the modern-day NAACP.
Though nearly a century has passed since Fortune’s death, his story lives on in the vacant home on Drs. James Parker Blvd. Which is why, according to Mayor Pasquale Menna, it is so important to preserve the house for future generations.
“It is a part of our history,” Menna said. “It’s important for young people to know that there was a Red Bank connection there, one that has been forgotten for a long time.”
The home, which has been owned by the Vaccarelli family since 1918, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976 and the New Jersey Register of Historic Places in 1979. It is one of only 55 National Historic Landmarks in the state, and one of only two landmarks associated with African- American history.
“It is on the same list as the Empire State Building and George Washington’s Mount Vernon,” Primavera said. “Its significance is beyond discussion.”
Unfortunately, the home’s classification as a landmark does not protect it from being demolished. In 2007, when the Vaccarellis put it up for sale, Preservation New Jersey listed the house as one of the state’s most endangered sites. After years of vacancy, the late-19thcentury home had begun to show its age and become a target for vandals. The home was boarded up, and local advocates feared a new owner would raze it.
In the years since, the grassroots Fortune House Project was formed, and Primavera, a veteran conservation professional, volunteered to lead the reclamation effort. He estimates that the citizen group needs approximately $3 million to purchase and restore the house, turning it into a museum and a public exhibit honoring the story and legacy of T. Thomas Fortune.
In the last year, the group has networked with academics, historians, advocacy groups, students, musicians and countless others to raise interest and funds for the effort. They have also started a crowdfunding website and are actively engaged in outreach efforts to teach people about Fortune’s impact on American history.
Throughout February, the group will host information sessions at Brookdale Community College, Monmouth University, Red Bank Regional High School, Red Bank Primary School and others. Detailed information can be found on the T. Thomas Fortune House Facebook page or www.thomasfortunehouse. weebly.com.
Acknowledging that the group is engaged in a “Herculean effort,” Rogers said it is something that must be done.
“This isn’t just about the African-American community. This is about our community, period,” she said. “This is our history. We live in a time when there is a lot of development going on, but you have to work to preserve your past. Otherwise, you could lose everything. You could forget.”