The grant money from the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund, an initiative of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, will go toward the preservation and protection of various locations integral to Black history. The African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund was launched in 2017 with the purpose of “elevating and preserving the stories and places of African American resilience, activism and achievement,” the fund’s Executive Director Brent Leggs told CNN Tuesday.
Leggs, who also serves as the senior vice president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, said the 2022 selection of grant recipients highlights the beauty and complexity of Black culture and history in America.
“This year, we wanted to ensure that we were balancing public memory and not just presenting places associated with a painful past, but uplifting stories of arts, culture, entrepreneurship and achievement that are fundamental to the nation itself,” Leggs said.
This is the fifth year the fund has awarded national grants to places symbolizing significant aspects of Black history, with new sites being selected every year. This year, Leggs said the $3 million encompasses grants ranging from $50,000 to $150,000 going to the various locations based on the fund’s four funding categories: building capital, increasing organizational reach, project planning and education and programming.
Here are some of the sites that will be preserved, how much they received from the fund and the stories behind their cultural significance.
The home of Mamie Till Mobley and Emmett Till
Money allocated: $150,000
In the years leading up to her son’s gruesome murder that spurred the civil rights movement in America, Mamie Till Mobley and Emmett lived in a two-story Victorian house in Chicago’s South Side Woodlawn neighborhood.
The grant will focus on the creation of a project director position centered on programming and heritage projects, including repairing the home’s interior to resemble how it looked in 1955 when Emmett last lived there.
The birthplace of bebop jazz
Money allocated: $100,000
Performers at the historic site included renowned jazz artists such as Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Sarah Vaughan.
As part of the grant project, the Blue Bird will undergo a series of interior rehabilitation projects with the intent of serving as an archive, music venue and gathering space for the Detroit community once again.
A Black-owned bank that served as a ‘symbol of progress’
Money allocated: $94,000
The locally owned bank provided a space for community members to purchase shares, meaning Black residents could invest in their community.
Banks’ entrepreneurial efforts are said to have subverted the racism that dictated everyday life in Mississippi in the 20th century.
The grant will be put toward exterior rehabilitation meant to solidify the bank’s future as a museum and visitor center.
The church where civil rights marchers met before Selma’s ‘Bloody Sunday’
Money allocated: $150,000
In 1965, civil rights organizers — including late civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis — met at the Brown Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church in preparation for a march from Selma, Alabama, to Montgomery, the state capital, to advocate for voting rights.
The new funds will address water and termite damage as well as replace some of the church’s cupolas’ structural beams.
A first-class musical venue for Black musicians
Money allocated: $100,000
The Eldorado Ballroom was listed in the Green Book, a guidebook that helped Black people safely navigate the country, as a “must-visit” site for African Americans in Houston, Texas.
The grant project will repair and restore the ballroom’s windows on the ground- and second floors.
