National Park Service Awards $23.4 Million to Preserve African American Civil Rights History

News Release Date: April 30, 2024

Contact: [email protected]

WASHINGTON - The National Park Service today awarded $23.4 million to 39 projects in 16 states and the District of Columbia as part of the Historic Preservation Fund 's African American Civil Rights grant program, which focuses on the preservation of sites and stories directly associated with the struggle of African Americans to gain equal rights.

"Since 2016, the National Park Service has provided over $126 million through this program to document, preserve, and recognize the places and stories associated with the struggle for civil rights of African Americans," said National Park Service Director Chuck Sams.

These grants will support the preservation of historic places like the Harriet Tubman YWCA and the Louis Armstrong House, and fund history projects such as documenting the African American Recreational Tourism and the Negro Motorist Green Book in Michigan.
Harriet Tubman YWCA in Durham, N.C.
This grant will fund rehabilitation of the Harriet Tubman YWCA, a key building in Durham's African American history associated with both the civil rights and the feminist movements in Durham, rehabilitating the building and returning it to occupancy to meet the growing need for affordable housing. The project will include development of architectural and construction plans to preserve and adaptively reuse the building.
The Louis Armstrong House in Corona, N.Y.
This project will preserve and rehabilitate the home of the iconic music and cultural icon, Louis Armstrong. Built in 1910, it was inhabited by the Armstrong family until the death of Louis in 1971 and Lucille in 1983. The overarching goal is to ensure the home remains a vibrant and lasting testament to the legacy of Louis Armstrong, and safeguard its historical, cultural, and architectural significance. The project seeks to protect the structural integrity of the house and enhance the safety of the environment for staff and visitors.
African American Recreational Tourism and the Negro Motorist Green Book in Michigan
The project will produce a survey of properties and sites related to African American recreation included in the Negro Motorist Green Book. Resources will include gas stations, rooming houses, and resorts. The survey report will include an extensive historic context on African American recreation tourism in Michigan, and a nomination to the National Register of Historic Places will be developed.
Through the Historic Preservation Fund, Congress appropriated funding for the African American Civil Rights Grant Program in fiscal year 2023. The HPF uses revenue from federal oil and gas leases on the Outer Continental Shelf to assist with a broad range of preservation projects, lessening the loss of nonrenewable resources and benefiting the preservation of other irreplaceable resources, without using tax dollars.

Since its establishment in 1977, the HPF has provided more than $2 billion in historic preservation grants to states, Tribes, local governments, and nonprofit organizations. Administered by the National Park Service, HPF funds may be appropriated by Congress to support a variety of historic preservation projects to help preserve the nation's cultural resources.

For more information about NPS historic preservation programs and grants, please visit go.nps.gov/grants.

Awards
(See full summaries)

Alabama
City of Anniston - $74,800
Story Mapping and Formalization of Operations and Maintenance for the Anniston Civil Rights Trail - Anniston

Alabama
Historic Bethel Baptists Church Community Restoration Fund - $750,000
Historic Bethel Baptist Church: Preserving the Past to Secure the Future - Birmingham

Alabama
St. Paul United Methodist Church - $750,000
Preservation of St. Paul United Methodist Church - Birmingham

Alabama
Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church - $750,000
Preservation of Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church and Parsonage - Montgomery

Alabama
Alabama Historical Commission - $75,000
Freedom Rides Museum Vintage Greyhound Bus Virtual Reality Experience - Montgomery

Alabama
Alabama Historical Commission - $750,000
Moore Building 2nd Floor Rehabilitation - Montgomery

Connecticut
The Mary and Eliza Freeman Center for History and Community - $750,000
Preservation of the 1848 Eliza Freeman House - Bridgeport

Florida
City of Pensacola - $22,160
Ground Penetrating Radar Survey and Interpretation of a Possible 19th Century Unmarked African American Cemetery - Pensacola
Georgia
Americus-Sumter County Movement Remembered Committee - $749,200
Preservation of the Historic Americus Colored Hospital to create the Americus Sumter County Civil Rights Museum and Cultural Center - Americus

Georgia
Ralph David Abernathy III Foundation, Inc. - $75,000
Creation & implementation of interpretation programs of Rev. Dr. Ralph David Abernathy in the Civil Rights Movement - Atlanta

Georgia
Atlanta Business League Foundation, Inc. - $749,000
Rehabilitation of the Historic Ashby Theatre as Part of a Multi-use business and community center - Atlanta

Georgia
The Trust for Public Land - $750,000
Prince Hall Masonic Lodge Rehabilitation Project - Atlanta
Georgia
Mayor and Aldermen of the City of Savannah - $50,000
Springfield Terrace School Rehabilitation Plan - Savannah
Georgia
Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation - $694,522
Saving the Last Rosenwald School; The Eleanor Roosevelt School, Warm Springs, Georgia - Warm Springs

Kentucky
Louisville Preservation Fund - $750,000
Brown Memorial CME Church Building Rehabilitation - Louisville

Maryland
Maryland Department of Planning and Maryland Historical Trust - $50,000
Survey of Civil Rights Properties in Baltimore
Mississippi
Quitman County School District - $408,500
Marks Rosenwald School Rehabilitation: Phase 3 - Marks
Mississippi
The Wechsler Foundation - $750,000
Rehabilitation of the Wechsler School 1951 Addition Cafeteria/Multipurpose Area- Meridian
Mississippi and Illinois
Emmett Till Memorial Commission of Tallahatchie County, Inc. - $74,096
Emmett Till Landmark - A Digital, GPS-Enabled Guide to Twenty-three Sites - Various Sites

New York
Town of Rye - $35,450
Rye African American Cemetery Pre-Preservation Initiative - Rye
North Carolina
Elizabeth City State University - $750,000
ECSU Rosenwald Practice School and Principal's House Rehabilitation/Northeastern North Carolina African American Research and Cultural Heritage Institue - Elizabeth City
North Carolina
Elizabeth City State University - $75,000
ECSU Rosenwald Practice School and Principal's House/Northeastern North Carolina African American Research and Cultural Heritage Institute Exhibit Design and Construction - Elizabeth City
North Carolina
NC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources - $555,334
Preservation of the Tea House at Charlotte Hawkins Brown State Historic Site- Sedalia
North Carolina
Triangle J Council of Governments - $748,303
Trinity AME Zion Church Rehabilitation Project - Southern Pines
North Carolina
Southern Pines Land & Housing Trust Inc. - $ 67,200
Museum Exhibition Planning and Research for the West Southern Pines Cultural Center - Southern Pines
Ohio
Cleveland Restoration Society, Inc. - $529,038
Phase II: Masonry and Terracotta Repairs for Cleveland's Top Civil Rights Landmark, Cory United Methodist Church - Cleveland
Ohio
Neighborhood Progress, Inc. - $75,000
To support pre-preservation work on the historic Sidaway Bridge - Cleveland
Pennsylvania
Friends of Washington Crossing Park - $61,955
Calling Forth the Legacy of Jacob Francis: The Revolutionary Road to the Civil Rights Movement - Washington Crossing
South Carolina
The University of South Carolina - $5,000,000
The Booker T. Washington Auditorium Rehabilitation - Columbia
South Carolina
Center for Creative Partnerships - $750,000
Phase II Preservation of All Star Bowling Lanes - Orangeburg
South Carolina
Trinity United Methodist Church - $750,000
Preservation and Repair of Historic Trinity United Methodist Church: Phase IV - Orangeburg
South Carolina
South Carolina Rural Education Grassroots Group - $750,000
Stabilization and Preservation Planning of the former Edgewood School - Ninety Six
South Carolina
Lincoln High School Preservation Alumni Association - $750,000
2022 Lincoln High School Preservation Application-Phase II - Sumter
Texas
Galveston Historical Foundation, Inc. - $750,000
Elevation of the 1859 Ashton Villa - Galveston
Virginia
Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities - $288,000
Historic Rocky Branch School Initial Building Stabilization Project - Sutherland
Virginia
One Shared Story - $74,942
Sanctuaries of Governance and Social Structure: A Collaborative Project to Recognize the Role of African American Churches from Reconstruction to Civil Rights- Various sites
West Virginia
Friends of Blackwater - $65,000
African American Experience of Struggle and Achievement in West Virginia's Allegheny Highlands - Various sites

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. More than 20,000 National Park Service employees care for America's 429 national parks and sites and work with communities across the nation to help preserve local history and create close-to-home recreational opportunities. Learn more at www.nps.gov and on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.

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