The dining room of the Ansley Wilcox home of the Theadore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic site in Buffalo, New York. (Aug. 1, 2018)

The library room of the Ansley Wilcox home in Buffalo, New York, where President Theodore Roosevelt took the oath of office is now the Theadore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic site in Buffalo. (Aug. 1, 2018)

The Ansley Wilcox home in Buffalo, New York, being readied for the swearing in of Theodore Roosevelt after President William McKinley was assassinated while attending a public reception at the Pan American Exposition in Buffalo. (Aug. 1, 2018)

A photo of Theodore Roosevelt at the Theadore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic site, which is the former Ansley Wilcox home in Buffalo, New York. (Aug. 1, 2018)

An exhibit displayed inside the house and former home of Ansley Wilcox and his family is where the story begins of how the house and circumstances, the assassination of President William McKinley came to be. (Aug. 1, 2018)

I love that Buffalo, New York, is sprucing itself up, but it would have been nice to photograph the Theadore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic site…without the scaffolding. But the first thing Debra took me to after she picked me up from the airport on Wednesday…and of course breakfast…was to this site. The statue to the right is President Theodore Roosevelt who took the oath of office as President of the United States on Sept. 14, 1901 after President William McKinley was assassinated while attending a public reception at the Pan American Exposition in Buffalo. (Aug. 1, 2018)

The Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic site in Buffalo, New York.

This portrait of Rosa Parks is the epitome of a woman who is both outwardly mild yet inwardly strong enough to stand her ground. Painted by Julia Bottoms as part of the Freedom Wall in Buffalo, New York, Rosa Park (1913-2005) is
widely lauded as the “Mother of the Civil Rights Movement.” Parks’s commitment to the pursuit of racial justice both predated and extended long after her famous refusal to move to the back of a segregated bus in December 1955. Parks’s act of civil disobedience instigated a 381-day boycott of Montgomery’s bus system, led by a then relatively unknown Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (Aug. 1, 2018)

The Freedom Wall, an outdoor heritage art gallery, at the corner of Michigan Avenue and East Ferry Street in Buffalo, New York, features local, national and historic African Americans and is across the street from the Bethel AME Church. (Aug. 1, 2018)

The Freedom Wall at the corner of Michigan Avenue and East Ferry Street in Buffalo, New York. (Aug. 1, 2018)

The Freedom Wall at the corner of Michigan Avenue and East Ferry Street in Buffalo, New York, is a bold and empowering sight to behold and features portraits of 28 notable civil rights leaders from America’s past and present, created by Buffalo-based artists John Baker, Julia Bottoms, Chuck Tingley, and Edreys Wajed. The selection and order of the final 28 subjects shapes a unique story about civil and human rights work in American history, with an eye toward contextualizing national work and local impact. (Aug. 1, 2018)

The Freedom Wall at the corner of Michigan Avenue and East Ferry Street in Buffalo, New York. (Aug. 1, 2018)

The Freedom Wall an outdoor art gallery of local, national and historic African Americans painted by three artists, Julia Bottoms-Douglas, Edreys Wajed and Chuck Tingley at the corner of Michigan Avenue and East Ferry Street in Buffalo, New York. (Aug. 1, 2018)

The historic Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church is the oldest congregation of African descent in Buffalo, New York. Organized in 1831, the congregation worshipped in a house on Carroll Street and in 1839 moved to a frame building on Vine Street. The original Vine Street Church was replaced with a new brick structure in 1845. The Vine Street African Methodist Episcopal Church, as it was known during the early 19th century, remained on Vine Street until 1928 when the congregation moved to 551 Eagle Street, where the congregation remained for 25 years. In 1953 under the leadership of the Rev. Harry White, Bethel moved to its present location at 1525 Michigan Avenue. (Aug. 1, 2018)