This issue of the Forum Journal, published in partnership with the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience, explores interpretation and preservation efforts at sites associated with difficult histories. Using a diversity of approaches, preservationists and social activists across the country call on the power of place and narrative to illuminate some of the most painful chapters of our nation’s past. This work is vital not only because such history is frequently underrepresented and thus not widely known but also because many of the lessons we stand to learn from these sites resonate deeply with contemporary events. The breadth of sites and institutions featured in this issue is a testament to the unique capacity of preservation to represent difficult histories, address painful pasts, and recognize the underrepresented stories that are a vital part of our nation’s heritage.

Table of Contents

• Introduction: Reframing the Historical Narrative at Sites of Conscience by Ashley Nelson and Sarah Pharaon
• The Stories We Collect: Promoting Housing as a Human Right at the National Public Housing Museum by Lisa Yun Lee
• Angola Prison: Collecting and Interpreting the Afterlives of Slavery in a National Museum by Paul Gardullo
• The Community Proposal to Save Shockoe Bottom by Robert Nieweg
• Tule Lake: Learning from Places of Exception in a Climate of Fear by Cathlin Goulding
• The Fight to Save Blair Mountain by Charles B. Keeney III
• Turbulent Water: The Dakota Access Pipeline and Traditional Cultural Landscapes by Jon Eagle Sr.