WASHINGTON - The National Park Service (NPS) awarded $21 million today to 37 projects in 16 states as part of the Historic Preservation Fund’s African American Civil Rights grant program, which funds preservation projects and efforts of sites tied to the struggle of African Americans to gain equal rights.
“The National Park Service is proud to award this grant funding to our state and local government, and nonprofit partners to help them recognize places and stories related to the African American experience," said NPS Director Chuck Sams. “Since 2016, the African American Civil Rights program has provided over $100 million to document, protect, and celebrate the places, people and stories of one of the greatest struggles in American history."
This year’s grants will support the preservation of sites like the Ashby Theatre, St. Paul United Methodist Church and the Americus Colored Hospital.
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Atlanta’s Ashby Theatre opened in 1934 offering African Americans a state-of-the art experience and welcomed them through the front door to watch movies on the main level. Herman Perry, a successful African American entrepreneur who founded Citizens Trust Bank, which is among the largest African American-owned financial institutions in the country today, built the theater. Grant funds will support removal of hazardous material, building assessments, stabilization, and exterior improvements.
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During the Birmingham demonstrations in 1963 against racial segregation, St. Paul hosted mass meetings and held training sessions in nonviolent civil disobedience for the young demonstrators who participated in the Children’s Crusade marches. Rev. Dr. Joseph Lowery, who established the Southern Christian Leadership Conference along with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was pastor of the church. The grant funding will improve mechanical and plumbing systems. The applicant is providing $26,000 in matching funds.
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The Americus Colored Hospital in Georgia provided high-quality, full-service health care to African Americans from 1923 to 1953 and was a facility where black medical professionals could train, practice, and serve. With a significant population of health professionals, Americus had a thriving African American middle class. In the 1960s, the building became one of two Freedom Centers to help people register to vote. This grant will fund installation of new electrical and HVAC systems and provide interior repairs.
Congress appropriated funding for the African American Civil Rights Grant Program in fiscal year 2022 through the Historic Preservation Fund (HPF). The HPF uses revenue from federal oil and gas leases on the Outer Continental Shelf to assist with a broad range of preservation projects and mitigate the loss of nonrenewable resources by funding the preservation of other irreplaceable resources without expending tax dollars. Established in 1977 and authorized at $150 million per year through 2023, the HPF has provided more than $2 billion in historic preservation grants to states, Tribes, local governments, and nonprofit organizations.
Administered by the NPS, Congress may appropriate HPF funds to support a variety of historic preservation projects to help preserve the nation’s cultural resources. For fiscal year 2023, $24 million will be available for African American Civil Rights grants in the summer of 2023.
For more information about NPS historic preservation programs and grants, please visit nps.gov/stlpg/.
Awards
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About the National Park Service. More than 20,000 National Park Service employees care for America's 424 national parks 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.
Tags: african american civil rights historic preservation historic preservation grants historic preservation fund
Source: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service