National Trust Announces $3M. in Grants to Preserve Black History Sites Across 30 U.S. Cities

The African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund (AACHAF), a program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, announced today that it is awarding $3 million in grant funding to protect and preserve 30 sites significant to Black history across the United States, with a focus on modern architecture, education, sports, and Black women’s achievement.

Individual grants will be dispersed in amounts from $50,000 to $150,000 and will be used to by the grantees to as capital to support restoration projects, increase organizational capacity, fund the development of preservation plans, and increase education programing.

Since its founding in 2017 the AACHAF has raised over $140 million, making it the largest resource dedicated to the preservation of Black historic places. This year’s grants are part of the National Grant Program, which aims to support preservation efforts that revitalize and sustain tangible links to America’s shared past, with the goal of inspiring future generations. 

“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,” Brent Leggs, the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund’s executive director said in a press release. “History is crucial to our nation’s understanding of where we’ve come from, who we are today, and how we envision our future. 

The program is made possible through contributions from key philanthropic partners, including the Mellon Foundation, Ford Foundation, and Robert D. L. Gardiner Foundation, with the Mellon Foundation alone contributing $1.5 million. 

Sites in cities across the United States will get funding, including the Alpha Gamma Omega House in Los Angeles, California; Chickasaw Park in Louisville, Kentucky; Jackson, Mississippi’s Unita Blackwell Freedom House; The Lefferts Historic House in Brooklyn, New York; and several halls at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia that were designed by the prominent Black architect Leon Allain. A complete list of the grantees can be found on the National Trust for Historic Preservation website.