A plantation-era cemetery in Georgia, a 1930s Mississippi jazz “juke joint,” and one of the oldest Black mosques in the country are among the 30 sites selected by the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund to receive amounts ranging from $50,000 to $150,000.
Since its inception in 2017, the fund has raised more than $140 million, and is the largest resource dedicated to the preservation of African American historic places. This year, $3 million in grant funding will go to protecting and preserving 30 sites representing Black history.
Many of the overarching themes present in the 2023 African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund remain in this year’s installment. Again, there are numerous sites focused on education, such as the Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts and Kennard High School. Community facilities also continue to receive grants: the John F. Kennedy Community Center or last year’s Charles McAfee Swimming Pool.
There are four categories within in the 2024 Action Fund: Building Capital, which focuses on the restoration and rehabilitation of cultural assets; Increasing Organizational Capacity, which provides leadership staff positions supervising Black heritage sites; Project Planning and Development, which funds the development of preservation plans, feasibility studies, and historic site reports; and Programming and Education, which improves storytelling through public education and exhibits.
This year’s awards feature the second edition of Conserving Black Modernism grants, which uphold the work of African American architects. With support from the Getty Foundation, the fund will doll out $1.2 million in preservation funding to these eight awardees. These include two studios belonging to prominent African American architects: the Robert T. Coles Home and Studio and Azurest South, the home and studio of Amaza Lee Meredith.
Brent Leggs, executive director of the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund, said in a statement: “The National Grant Program represents the Action Fund’s enduring commitment to telling the full American story—one that makes room for Black resilience, creativity, and achievement. These grants will support critical preservation efforts to revitalize and sustain tangible links to our shared past that we hope will inspire future generations.”
The full list of grantees can be seen below while additional information can be found here.
2024 National Grant Program Grantees
Alpha Gamma Omega House | The Ivy Heritage Foundation | Capital Project | Los Angeles
Imperial Hotel | Jack Hadley Black History Memorabilia. | Capital Project | Thomasville, Georgia
Pierce Chapel African Cemetery | Hamilton Hood Foundation | Project Planning | Midland, Georgia
Erma Hayman House | City of Boise Department of Arts & History | Organizational Capacity Building | Boise, Idaho
Wabash Avenue YMCA | The Renaissance Collaborative. | Programming and Interpretation | Chicago
Nicodemus Historical Society & Museum | Nicodemus Historical Society & Museum | Organizational Capacity Building | Bogue, Kansas
Chickasaw Park | Louisville Olmsted Parks Conservancy. | Programming and Interpretation | Louisville, Kentucky
Kennard High School at the Kennard African American Cultural Heritage Center & Museum | Kennard Alumni Association. | Organizational Capacity Building | Centreville, Maryland
Gaithersburg Community Museum | Gaithersburg Community Museum | Programming and Interpretation | Gaithersburg, Maryland
Camp Katharine Parsons Nature House | Phyllis Wheatley Community Center | Project Planning | Minneapolis
Unita Blackwell Freedom House | The Lighthouse | Capital Project | Jackson, Mississippi
Alonzo Chatmon’s Juke Joint | The Mt. Zion Memorial Fund for Blues Music and Justice | Project Planning | Water Valley, Mississippi
Shady Rest Golf and Country Club | Preserve Shady Rest Committee | Project Planning | Scotch Plains, New Jersey
New Amsterdam Musical Association Building | New Amsterdam Musical Association | Capital Project | Harlem, New York
Woodlawn Cemetery | Woodlawn Conservancy | Programming and Interpretation | Bronx, New York
Lefferts Historic House | Prospect Park Alliance | Project Planning | Brooklyn, New York
Cincinnati Preservation Association’s “Greater Cincinnati Black and African American Historic Context Study” | Cincinnati Preservation Association | Project Planning | Cincinnati
Kennett Underground Railroad Center (KURC) | Brandywine Valley Scenic Byway Commission | Project Planning | Chadds Ford, Kennett Township, Pennsylvania
The Brainerd Institute | Brainerd Institute Heritage | Chester, South Carolina
George W. Hubbard House of Meharry Medical College | Friends Of Hubbard House | Capital Project | Nashville
Simms/Gray-Lewis Cottage | Rutherford B.H. Yates Museum | Capital Project | Houston
The Pine Grove Washington-Rosenwald School | AMMD Pine Grove Project | Project Planning | Richmond, Virginia
Conserving Black Modernism Program
Ira Aldridge Theater | Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts at Howard University | Project Planning | Washington, D.C.
Masjid Muhammad, Nations Mosque | Masjid Muhammad, Inc. | Project Planning & Limited Capital | Washington, D.C.
Claude B. Dansby, Benjamin G. Brawley, and John H. Wheeler Halls at Morehouse College | Morehouse College | Project Planning | Atlanta
Kenneth G. Neigh Dormitory Complex at the former Mary Holmes Community College | Dream Center Golden Triangle | Project Planning | West Point, Mississippi
Robert T. Coles Home and Studio | Frank Lloyd Wright’s Martin House | Project Planning | Buffalo, New York
John F. Kennedy Community Center | Preservation Buffalo Niagara | Buffalo, New York
Universal Life Insurance Company Building | South Memphis Renewal Community Development Corporation | Project Planning & Limited Capital | Memphis, Tennessee
Azurest South, Amaza Lee Meredith Home and Studio | Virginia State University Alumni Association | Project Planning & Limited Capital | St. Petersburg, Virginia
