The Africatown International Design Idea Competition, initiated by Renee Kemp-Rotan, Professional Competition Advisor was the largest African-centric, multi-site design idea competition the world has seen. While Africatown, that 19th-century settlement developed by Clotilda Africans suffered "benign neglect" for many decades, the 2019 discovery of the last slave ship Clotilda in Mobile Alabama was highly celebrated. Studiorotan developed Competitions' mantra: "If we can save the ship, we can save the town", through her 5year involvement with multiple Africatown community development organizations that allowed her to program 4 sites and 16 venues with a deep sensitivity to "place-knowing and place-making" and an intimate comprehension of community needs. This course outlines the history of Africatown, its intricate socio-economic challenges, its complex programming framework and the many resources brought to this problem-solving event that resulted in substantial partnerships with AIA, NOMA, the World Monuments Fund Watch; The NY Architectural League's American Roundtable Series; and Guggenheim's World Around: Land/Film Series. Here we review studiorotans competition programming, animations, film, research and multiple publications, that provoked the $100 K global award-winning entries, in ways that raised public awareness about the power of design to establish Africatown as a world-class heritage destination.