African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund facts for kids
The African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund is a special program that started in 2017. It helps protect important Black cultural places across the United States. This includes old buildings, collections of items, and the stories connected to them. The program is part of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Since 2019, Brent Leggs, an expert in old buildings, has led this effort. It is the biggest program in America focused on saving places important to Black history.
Protecting Black History
This program was created to make sure that important places telling the stories of African Americans are strong and safe. The fund helps fix and restore many different sites. These include churches and cemeteries. For example, it has helped the Harriet Tubman Home in New York. It also helped the Cleveland Public Theater in Ohio.
The Fund has a group of advisors. Famous people like Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Lonnie Bunch are part of it. A generous person named MacKenzie Scott gave $20 million to the Fund in 2021. By February 2022, the fund had raised $70 million. It has given money to over 200 projects. These projects are in communities that were often overlooked.
The fund does more than just fix old buildings. It also aims to bring positive change to neighborhoods. When culturally important places are restored, it helps the people living there. For example, fixing the home of blues artist Muddy Waters is not just about a house. It also creates a place where other musicians can find inspiration. They might even record their own music there.
Helping Black Churches
The fund also plans to work with Black churches. This is part of a plan to help religious centers in communities. On Martin Luther King Day in January 2022, a gift of $20 million was announced. This money will go to the Preserving Black Churches Project. The Lilly Endowment, a very large fund in the U.S., made this donation.
Places That Received Help
In 2018, $1 million was given to 16 projects. Here are a few examples:
- August Wilson House, (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)
- Buffalo Soldiers at Yosemite, (Yosemite, California)
- Civil Rights Sites of Birmingham, (Birmingham, Alabama)
- John and Alice Coltrane Home, (Huntington, New York)
- South Side Community Art Center, (Chicago, Illinois)
- Weeksville's Hunterfly Row Houses, (Brooklyn, New York)
In 2019, $1.6 million was given to 22 projects. The Mellon Foundation provided this funding. Some of these projects include:
- African Meeting House, (Boston, Massachusetts)
- Clinton African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, (Great Barrington, Massachusetts)
- Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, (Charleston, South Carolina)
- Harriet Tubman Home, (Auburn, New York)
- Langston Hughes House, (Harlem, New York)
- Pauli Murray Home and Center for History and Social Justice, (Durham, North Carolina)
In 2020, 27 grants were awarded. These totaled $1.6 million in funding. Some of the places helped were:
- Muddy Waters Mojo Museum, (Chicago, Illinois)
- The Historic Vernon A.M.E Church, (Tulsa, Oklahoma)
- Paul Robeson House, (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
- Historic Mitchelville Freedom Park, (Hilton Head, South Carolina)
In 2021, 40 groups received help from the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund. A total of $3 million was given out. Here are some of the recipients:
- African American Heritage Trail of Martha's Vineyard, (West Tisbury, Massachusetts)
- Black American West Museum and Heritage Center, (Denver, Colorado)
- Fort Monroe Foundation, (Fort Monroe, Virginia)
- Houston Freedmen's Town Conservancy, (Houston, Texas)
- Karamu House, (Cleveland, Ohio)
- National Marian Anderson Historical Society and Museum, (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
- National Negro Opera Company, (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)
- Roberts Temple Church of God in Christ, (Chicago, Illinois)
- Save Harlem Now!, (New York, New York)
