A division of the National Trust for Historic Preservation has announced that four black churches are among the 40 recipients of a $3.8 million grant to preserve buildings and black historic sites.
The African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund is dedicated to the preservation of African American historic sites that tell “the story of Black Americans’ activism, achievement and resilience,” the fund’s executive director, Brent Leggs told the Religion News Service. (RNS)
The outlet reports the fund is dedicated to supporting black houses of worship. The fund has already awarded 35 black churches a total of $4 million this year.
“Black churches are the oldest American institutions founded by Black people. They are at the center of communities,” Leggs said.
According to the RNS, the latest grants range from $50,000 to $155,000 and can be used in the restoration of church buildings. The funds can also be used toward maintaining church staff, project development, and educational programs.
The fund partnered with several philanthropic organizations in an effort of Conserving Black Modernism, whose goal is to preserve modern architecture by black architects and designers.
According to the RNS, the four churches receiving the grants are the following:
The Fourth Baptist Church in Richmond, Virginia. The church was founded in 1859 by 23 former black slaves. The grant will be used to preserve its educational wing, designed by Ethel Bailey Furman, a self-taught architect who was also the first Black woman to enter the profession.
The Second Baptist Church in Detroit, Michigan, the city’s oldest congregation will also use the funding to restore its education building. The building was designed by black architect Nathan Johnson, the outlet reported.
The Zion Baptist Church of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, received the necessary funding to perform a structural assessment of its main building following a fire. It was designed by black architect Walter Livingston in 1973.
The RNS noted the oldest site to receive a grant this year was not a building, but two cemeteries. The Mount Zion Cemetery and Female Union Band Society Cemetery in Washington, D.C. contain the graves of 8,000 to 10,000 African Americans buried there from the 1700s to 1950s.
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