On July 16, 2020, the National Trust for Historic Preservation announced more than $1.6 million in grants to 27 sites and organizations through its African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund.
Brent Leggs, executive director of the Action Fund, notes, “The recipients of this funding exemplify centuries of African American resilience, activism, and achievement, some known and some yet untold, that tell the complex story of American history in the United States. With urgency and intention, the nation must value the link between architecture and racial justice, and should fund these and other cultural assets to ensure their protection and preservation.”
Over the past two years, the National Trust has funded 65 historic African American places and invested more than $4.3 million to help preserve landscapes and buildings imbued with Black life, humanity, and cultural heritage. This year’s funds, provided by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, were awarded to key places and organizations that help the Action Fund protect and restore African American historic sites. Grants are given across four categories: capacity building, project planning, capital, and programming and interpretation.
Below, read the full list of grantees:
Africatown Heritage Preservation Foundation (Mobile, Alabama)
Clayborn Temple Clayborn Reborn (Memphis, Tennessee)
Tenth Street Historic District, Tenth Street Residential Organization (Dallas, Texas)
Paul Robeson House and Museum, West Philadelphia Cultural Alliance (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
Maxville Heritage Interpretive Center (Joseph, Oregon)
While We Are Still Here (Harlem, New York City, New York)
Florida African American Heritage Preservation Network John G. Riley Museum (Tallahassee, Florida)
Georgia African American Historic Preservation Network Georgia Historic Preservation Division
Banneker-Douglass Museum Foundation Maryland Commission on African American History and Culture (Annapolis, Maryland)
Historic Vernon Chapel AME Church Tulsa, Oklahoma)
Historic McDonough 19 Principal’s Office Leona Tate Foundation for Change, Inc. (New Orleans, Louisiana)
May’s Lick Rosenwald School Mason County Fiscal Court (Maysville, Kentucky)
Historic Dennis Farm House Dennis Farm Charitable Land Trust (Brooklyn Township, Pennsylvania)
National Center of Afro-American Artists at Abbotsford (Roxbury, Massachusetts)
Muddy Waters House Muddy Waters Mojo Museum, Inc. (Chicago, Illinois)
Omaha Star Publishing Company Omaha Economic Development Corp. (Omaha, Nebraska)
Founder’s Church of Religious Science (Los Angeles, California)
Historic Brockway Center and Historic Lyons Mansion Oklahoma City Urban Renewal Authority (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma)
Historic Mitchelville Freedom Park (Hilton Head Island, South Carolina)
The Commonwealth Planning Project Sweet Water Foundation (Chicago, Illinois)
The Clifton House (Baltimore, Maryland)
Mapping C’ville Jefferson School African American Heritage Center (Charlottesville, Virginia)
Association of African American Museums (AAAM) (Washington, D.C.)
Lewis Latimer House Museum (Flushing, New York)
Montana State Historic Preservation Office Montana Historical Society (statewide)
Sweet Auburn Works (Atlanta, Georgia)
AACHAF Vision Grant: City of Minneapolis (Minneapolis, Minnesota)
