The African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund, a program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, has announced grants totaling $3.8 million to help preserve sites representing African American history.

Announced ahead of Juneteenth, grants were awarded to protect and preserve 40 sites across the country, with a focus on conserving Black Modernist sites as well as historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). Through the Conserving Black Modernism partnership led by the Action Fund with support from the Getty Foundation, eight historic structures designed by Black architects will receive $1.2 million to help advance long-term preservation planning. In addition, through the HBCU Cultural Heritage Stewardship Initiative, Dillard University, Hampton University, Jarvis Christian University, Morris College, Talladega College, and Tuskegee University will receive nearly $700,000 funding to protect cultural assets.

Other grants awarded through the Action Fund ranged from $50,000 to $155,000 and spanned the categories of building capital, increasing organizational capacity, project planning and development, and programming and education, and recipients include the Museum of African American History in Nantucket, Massachusetts; YMI Cultural Center, Inc. in Asheville, North Carolina; Calfee Community & Cultural Center, Inc., in Pulaski, Virginia; Zion Baptist Church in Philadelphia; and Level Ground in New Orleans to support a comprehensive and immersive exhibition at the Dew Drop Inn.

“The Action Fund’s investment in and celebration of 40 historic African American places illustrates our belief that historic preservation plays an important role in American society,” said Brent Leggs, executive director of the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund and senior vice president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. “The history embodied in these places is emblematic of generational aspirations for freedom, the pursuit of education, a need for beauty and architecture, and joys of social life and community bonds. That’s why the Action Fund believes all Americans must see themselves and our shared history in this year’s grantee list if we are to create a culturally conscious nation.”

(Photo credit: Adam Jones via Flickr/Wikimedia)