The National Trust for Historic Preservation is awarding $3 million in grants to 24 sites nationwide that are critical, iconic, and historic in their importance to African American heritage.
The National Trust for Historic Preservation was chartered by Congress in 1949. An arm of the organization is the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund, which will disburse the $3 million via its National Grant Program Initiative.
For the third time, the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund is specifically awarding sites with “Conserving Black Modernism” grants. These grants support places that preserve and showcase “the work of African American architects.” Five out of the 24 total are receiving that type of grant this year. For the first time, the Action Fund is awarding grants through its Descendant and Family Stewardship Initiative (DFS). Per the press release, the DFS’ purpose is to empower leadership within descendant communities and family-led organizations as they preserve and manage Black historical sites.
The National Trust for Historic Preservation said that the sites awarded this year “represent Black American joy, resilience, innovation, and activism.”
Where Are The Awarded African American Heritage Sites?
The variety of this year’s recipient sites is vast. One is Brooklyn (Lovejoy), Illinois, among the nation’s oldest towns founded by freed Black people. Another site receiving funding is the forever legendary Apollo Theater in Harlem, located in New York City.
Two places highlighted by the DFS initiative are the Muddy Waters Mojo Museum in Chicago, Illinois, and the Clemmons Family Farm in Charlotte, Vermont. The former is a family-led institution honoring McKinley “Muddy Waters” Morganfield, a pioneer of Chicago blues. The grant going to the Vermont location will “support family-led stewardship planning” at a farm purchased in the late 1700s by couple Dr. Jackson Clemmons and Mrs. Lydia Monroe Clemmons. The site became a hub for promoting African art and is now home to an art exhibit, as well as being one of 22 landmarks on the Vermont African American Heritage Trail.
Sites awarded this year featuring the work of African American architects include the First Church of Deliverance in Chicago, Illinois, and the University of Oregon’s McKenzie Hall in Eugene.
