The National Juneteenth Museum: Building Forward and Challenging Historical Erasure

Derwin Broughton, AIA, NCARB is a Principal for KAI and accountable for Business Development and Client Relationships for the firm’s offices in Texas, Georgia and Missouri.

As an award winning designer his entry for the Gus Garcia Park Design Competition in Austin, Texas took top honors. He is an advocate for the inclusion of minorities within the design industry. Derwin is also a past President of the Dallas Chapter of the National Organization of Minority Architects.

Derwin currently serves as the Vice President for the Community and Economic Development Corporation for the City of Duncanville.

In 2013 Derwin was recognized by the American Institute of Architects (AIA) as recipient of the Young Architects Award. Derwin was named “20 Under 40” by Engineering News and Report in 2015 as a young construction professional making an impact in the industry and community. In 2017 the Dallas Business Journal recognized Derwin as “20 Under 40” of professionals making a difference in their communities and careers in Dallas.

Derwin currently serves as the Vice President of Advocacy for the Texas Society of Architects. A native of South Carolina and graduate of Clemson University, he is married to his college sweetheart Michele.

L’Rai Arthur-Mensah is an Executive Account Director with Local Projects. She has been with Local Projects, an experience design firm for museums and public spaces, for nine years. Her credits with Local Projects include award-winning and transformative experiences such as the Legacy Museum in Montgomery, Alabama; the Greenwood Rising museum in Tulsa, Oklahoma; the Fashion For Good Experience in Amsterdam, Netherlands; as well as forthcoming projects such as The Urban Civil Rights Museum in Harlem; The Shockoe Institute in Richmond, VA; and The National Juneteenth Museum in Fort Worth, TX. Her goal is always to contribute to works that facilitate conversations and experiences that place truth-telling and Justice at the center. L'Rai holds a B.S.E in Industrial and Operations Engineering from the University of Michigan.

Douglass Alligood, FAIA, is a Partner at BIG (Bjarke Ingels Group) with more than 40 years of experience working across a wide variety of projects and typologies - from single-family homes, commercial and residential towers, hospitals, education facilities, science research labs, and cultural institutions, to large-scale master planning and urban design. He has also recently completed several award-winning projects, including the 2023 Best Tall Building in the Americas award from the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat; the 2021 Jack Kemp Excellence in Affordable and Workforce Housing Award from the Urban Land Institute; and a 2018 Connecticut AIA Award of Excellence. Douglass is a licensed architect in multiple states, and a member of the AIA College of Fellows. He is an elected member of the Board of Trustees for his community and has been a volunteer and appointed member of several community planning groups, including the non-profit Urban Design Forum, and The National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA). He is also committed to mentoring young professionals and architecture students.

Alvaro Velosa is an architect living and practicing in New York City. He believes that architecture is a platform to make more comfortable and joyful places for all. His approach to architecture is based on a few goals and ideals. To make positive changes to the environment and ecology through design and construction. To use technology and data driven processes to inform design. To learn from and innovate on local and conventional ways of building. To make places that increase the comfort and joy of its inhabitants and users. He has experience in multiple types and various scales of projects from 3d printed homes, to timber cultural centers, to wood buildings on floating platforms, pioneering vertical film studios, framework plans for institutions, and urban design for cities and their infrastructure and public space. Throughout his career he has searched for briefs and clients that share a similar mission and vision to enhance the environment through architecture and design.

Fitgi Saint-Louis is a multidisciplinary artist and founder of Citi of Saints, a Harlem based design studio crafting cultural experiences rooted in community. Her work across fine art and experiential graphic design considers the layered and intertwined nature of identity, and remembrance between African, Caribbean and American cultures. Partnering with architectural collaborators, Fitgi leads creative direction for activations within cultural, healthcare, and education institutions. Fitgi has completed two public art sculptures in Harlem, NY, in partnership with the Department of Transportation and City Parks. She has completed murals for the New York Health and Hospital network and was awarded the Rising Star Award by Interior Design Magazine. She actively exhibits work in New York galleries and participates in artist residencies. Fitgi is an alumni and adjunct professor at the School of Visual Arts and is an active member of the Design as Protest Collective, Urban Design Forum and Society of Experiential Graphic Designers.