​​Interior and National Park Service Announces $12.6 Million in Grants to Preserve African American Civil Rights History

03/12/2018
Last edited 09/29/2021

Date: March 12, 2018
Contacts: Interior_Press@ios.doi.gov

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of the Interior and the National Park Service today announced $12.6 million in grants for 51 projects in 24 states that preserve sites and highlight stories related to the African American struggle for equality in the 20th century.

"An integral part of the Interior and National Park Service mission is to help preserve and tell America’s story,” said U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke. “These grants will benefit places across the nation that help tell an essential piece of that story through the African American struggle for civil rights and equality.”

“Through the work and engagement of public and private partners, these grants will preserve a defining part of our nation’s diverse history,” National Park Service Deputy Director Dan Smith said. “By working with local communities to preserve these historic places and stories, we will help tell a more complete narrative of the African American experience in the pursuit of civil rights.”

Projects receiving grants this year include those that will preserve resources like a baseball stadium used by the Negro National League in Paterson, New Jersey; the home of civil rights activist Mary Church Terrell in Washington, D.C.; and the last standing African American officers’ club at Fort Huachuca, Arizona. Grant projects also include statewide surveys to identify lesser-known civil rights sites, planning exhibits and interpretive trails, and collecting oral histories.

Congress appropriated funding for the African American Civil Rights Grants Program in 2016 through the Historic Preservation Fund (HPF). The HPF uses revenue from federal oil leases on the Outer Continental Shelf, providing assistance for a broad range of preservation projects without expending tax dollars. For the second year of this grants program, Congress increased funding from $8 million to $13 million in 2017.

Grant-supported projects include surveys and documentation, interpretation and education, oral histories, architectural services, historic structure reports, planning, and physical preservation.

Projects receiving an African American Civil Rights grants include:

StateProjectGranteeAmount
AlabamaThe Restoration of Mount Zion A.M.E. Zion Church Memorial AnnexMount Zion Center Foundation, Inc.$500,000
AlabamaRestoration and Rehabilitation of the Perry County JailhousePerry County Commission$500,000
AlabamaPreservation, Repair and Restoration of the Historic Sixteenth Street Baptist Church: Phase IIISixteenth Street Baptist Church$500,000
AlabamaMoore Building Master Plan and Phase I RehabilitationAlabama Historical Commission$365,720
AlabamaSecond Phase Continuation in the Preservation of Brown Chapel AMEHistoric Brown Chapel AME Church Preservation Society, Inc.$300,000
Alabama21st Century Preservation & the Next Generation of Global Activism: Archives Preservation and Digitization ProjectBirmingham Civil Rights Institute$44,918
AlabamaCivil Rights Struggle in the ShoalsUniversity of North Alabama$45,364
AlabamaFreedom Rides Museum 60th Anniversary Commemoration Exhibit PlansAlabama Historical Commission$50,000
AlabamaMontgomery Alabama Civil Rights Survey/Planning/Research/DocumentationCity of Montgomery$50,000
ArkansasPreserving the History of Central High SchoolLittle Rock School District$499,218
ArkansasDreamland Ballroom Public Access ProjectFriends of Dreamland$499,668
ArizonaMountain View Officers’ Club Preservation ProjectArizona Department of Parks$500,000
District of ColumbiaPreserving the Homes of Two Pioneers of the Civil Rights Movement: Mary Church Terrell and Walter E. WashingtonHoward University$500,000
District of ColumbiaWashington DC’s 20th Century Civil Rights Movement: Researching and Documenting Historic SitesDC Preservation League$50,000
FloridaLeon and Jewel Collins Museum of African American History- National Register of Historic Places NominationCity of Cocoa$50,000
GeorgiaPreservation and Restoration of the Historic West Hunter Street Baptist Church, Phase 2Ralph David Abernathy III Foundation, Inc.$490,000
GeorgiaWheat Street Baptist Church Historic RenovationWheat Street Towers$500,000
GeorgiaNominating U.S. Civil Rights Sites to the World Heritage ListGeorgia State University Research Foundation, Inc.$50,000
IowaBattling for Equality: Civil Rights in WaterlooCity of Waterloo Historic Preservation Commission$37,500
IowaIowa’s African American Civil Rights Survey, Multiple Property Documentation and NominationState Historical Society of Iowa$49,966
IllinoisPreservation of the Stone Temple Baptist Church BuildingCity of Chicago$445,500
IndianaHoosier Civil Rights History: Development of a Virtual Museum for Engaging Indiana’s Civil Rights LegacyBall State University$49,989
Kansas St. Mark’s A.M.E. Church Rehabilitation ContinuationSt. Mark’s A.M.E. Church of Topeka, KS Inc.$496,800
KentuckyQuinn Chapel AME Church Stabilization ProjectLouisville Jefferson County Metropolitan Government$450,000
LouisianaRobert “Bob” Hicks House and 1906 Mill House RehabilitationThe Robert “Bob” Hicks Foundation$498,632
LouisianaOld Galilee Missionary Baptist Church, Physical PreservationCity of Shreveport$500,000
LouisianaThe Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) Educational Pavilion and Central City Civil Rights Corridor ProjectFelicity Street Redevelopment, Inc.$25,000
LouisianaCuttin’ Cane Ain’t All We DoWest Baton Rouge Museum$50,000
MassachusettsPreserving Clinton AME Zion Church and Interpreting the Life and Legacy of WEB Du BoisUpper Housatonic Valley National Heritage Area, Inc.$388,508
MarylandPrince George’s County Civil Rights TrailAnacostia Trails Heritage Area, Inc.$45,100
MichiganPave the Way ProjectCity of Lansing$39,400
MichiganEvery Man’s Home is his CastleCity of Detroit$500,000
MississippiPhase One Rehabilitation of the Isaiah T. Montgomery House, Mound Bayou, MSMississippi Heritage Trust$284,000
MississippiA Case to Save Wechsler SchoolThe Wechsler Foundation$500,000
MississippiRestoration of Historic Old Phoenix Naval StoreLand Trust for the Mississippi Coastal Plain$499,534
MississippiMarks Mule Train and MLK’s Poor People’s Campaign Interpretive TrailQuitman County Mississippi Government$50,000
North CarolinaMcKissick Soul City Civil Rights CenterCounty of Warren$32,000
New JerseyHinchliffe Stadium Façade Rehabilitation Phase 2City of Paterson$500,000
New JerseyWinning Civil Rights and Political PowerCenter for Education and Juvenile Justice$50,000
NevadaThe African American Experience in Nevada: An Historic ContextNevada State Historic Preservation Office$46,032
New YorkAfrican American Civil Rights in New York State (1900-1976): Multiple Property Documentation Form and NominationNYS Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation$49,118
South CarolinaTrustee Hall Historic Structure Report and Preservation PlanClaflin University$50,000
South CarolinaDocumenting and Sharing the History of Mosquito Beach and its Role in the Civil Rights MovementHistoric Charleston Foundation$43,084
South CarolinaPreservation and Repair or Historic Trinity United Methodist ChurchTrinity Methodist Church$500,000
South CarolinaA Journey to Equal Education: Stories from Historic African American CommunitiesCharleston County Government$50,000
TennesseeMemphis Heritage TrailCity of Memphis – Housing and Community Development$50,000
TennesseeClayborn Temple Interior Sanctuary RestorationCity of Memphis - Housing and Community Development$500,000
TennesseeClayborn Temple and the 1968 Memphis Sanitation Workers StrikeNational Trust for Historic Preservation in the U.S.$20,000
TexasFreedmen’s Town StoriesBuilding Community Workshop$50,000
TexasHopewell Rosenwald Community SchoolAmerican Youthworks$247,094
VirginiaJosephine City School Roof ProjectCounty of Clarke Virginia$17,885
Total   $12,610,000

 

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