Louis Armstrong House in Queens, NY received a grant for preservation of this historic site (Photo/Curbed)
By Karen Stokes
The National Parks Service announced awards of over $23 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.
The program focuses on the preservation of sites and stories directly associated with the struggle of African Americans to gain equal rights. 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.
There are benchmarks for the projects:
- Significance: Describe the historic resource(s) in the proposed project that played a role in the African American struggle for civil rights. Describe the community and the historic resources affected by this project.
- Need/Urgency/Threat: Describe the need, urgency, and threat the project addresses and how the activities are necessary and will mitigate that threat.
- Feasibility: Describe all tasks and their results. Discuss your timeline and budget justification.
- Sustainability: Describe the impacts of the project after completion, including long lasting effects.
“An example of the impact of this grant program is the Campbell Chapel AME Church in Georgia which received $750,000. People currently can’t worship there; it’s not safe. Funds will allow repairs so the church can reopen and people can continue to worship in the church that has been a central and important place in the community,” said Jenny Anzelmo-Sarles, Chief Spokesperson at National Parks Service.
Through the Historic Preservation Fund (HPF), 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, according to nps.gov.
The two types of projects awarded African American Civil Rights grants are preservation projects for rehabilitation of historic property and the other is history grants which are more about helping tell a story. That might be creating an exhibit at a museum, an academic doing historical research or capturing oral histories from community members so that their stories are not lost.
“The grant program started in 2016 and we have awarded over $126 million to this program to document, preserve and recognize places and stories associated with the struggle for civil rights of African Americans,” Anzelmo-Sarles said.
For more information about NPS historic preservation programs and grants, please visit go.nps.gov/grants.