"By creating sturdy structures, building tradesmen provide us with a reassuring context in which subsequent civilizing acts might flourish," wrote John Micheal Vlach, "What they fashion for us is nothing less than the contexts of our daily experiences."

Nowhere is this more evident than in New Orleans, where Black and Creole-of-color master craftsmen as culture bearers have provided the foundations for benevolent society second lines, exuberant funeral processions, brass band parades, Mardi Gras Indian traditions, and even the underpinning of jazz itself, all in addition to dominating some of the preservation building trades that have created and preserved the built environment of New Orleans.

From Lieutenant Governor Oscar Dunn, a plasterer who during Reconstruction became the first Black acting governor of a state in America to Big Chief Allison "Tootie" Montana, a lather whose 3-D beaded designs revolutionized Mardi Gras Indian aesthetics, New Orleans master craftsmen are the tip of the spear when it comes to diversity in the preservation movement. They have always been an essential part of the preservation community. They are necessary for the future of preservation in New Orleans. The intergenerational transfer of their centuries-old institutional knowledge of (sometimes secret) trade skills is indispensable to preserving New Orleans' architectural treasures.

This round table session will brainstorm with New Orleans master craftspeople about the colorful legacies, rituals and remembrances of life among the legendary "mechanics" of the preservation building trades in New Orleans in order to promote continued diversity for future generations.