Grants Awarded for Model Programs at African American Sites

Posted January 22, 2010 | Contact pr@savingplaces.org or 202-588-6141

The National Trust for Historic Preservation is pleased to announce that it has awarded a total of $60,000 in grants to four projects to improve the interpretation of African American historic places.  These four projects will help raise awareness of African American sites and their significance in American history and provide model programs for other historic sites across the country.  Developed as collaborative projects between historic sites and universities, the four projects are:
 
• Building Freedom in the Territorial West by the Montana Heritage Commission and Washington State University to interpret Virginia City’s historic African American community through the life of Sarah Gammon Bickford, a former slave who arrived in Montana in 1871 and eventually became the sole owner of the Virginia City Water Company.  The project will include a public history field school for graduate students, outdoor interpretive signs, and an interactive Web site on the research process and discoveries.
 
• African American Voices at Oakland by the Historic Oakland Foundation and Kennesaw State University to research, interpret, and preserve the African American history of Atlanta’s segregated Oakland Cemetery through outdoor exhibits, a cell phone tour, and a community preservation workday.
 
• Enhancing Interpretation of the 17th Provisional Training Regiment by the Fort Des Moines Museum and Simpson College to conduct research on the lives of the African American officers who trained at Fort Des Moines (Iowa) during the first half of the 20th century as a basis for a scholarly essay, new exhibits, and an expanded Web site.
 
• Interpretation of African American Resources at Fort Ward Park by the City of Alexandria and Howard University to interpret the African American community at Fort Ward in Alexandria, Virginia using archaeology.  The project will provide outdoor exhibits and a workshop for graduate students.
 
The Partnership-in-Scholarship grant program is administered by the African American Historic Places Program of the National Trust and supported in part by the Ford Foundation.  The African American Historic Places Program was launched in 2002 to highlight the significance and importance of African American historic places across the country.  
 
The National Trust for Historic Preservation is a non-profit membership organization bringing people together to protect, enhance and enjoy the places that matter to them. By saving the places where great moments from history – and the important moments of everyday life – took place, the National Trust for Historic Preservation helps revitalize neighborhoods and communities, spark economic development and promote environmental sustainability. With headquarters in Washington, DC, eight regional and field offices, 29 historic sites, and partner organizations in 50 states, territories, and the District of Columbia, the National Trust for Historic Preservation provides leadership, education, advocacy and resources to a national network of people, organizations and local communities committed to saving places, connecting us to our history and collectively shaping the future of America’s stories.