National Park Service Awards African American Historical Preservation Grants to Five Universities

The African American Civil Rights grant program from the National Park Service has awarded more than $23 million in funding to 39 projects aimed at preserving sites and history relating to African Americans. The following outlines the grants awarded to higher education institutions across the country. Auburn University received $750,000 to support infrastructure and interior repairs at the local Tankersley Rosenwald School in Hope Hull, Alabama. The school is one of 5,000 Rosenwald Schools established across the rural South in the early twentieth century. The schools were built to advance African American children’s education in the largely segregated rural South. The University of Northern Colorado received $743,224 to revitalize the historic filling station in the Dearfield National Register District. The Dearfield, Colorado, site was home to a 31 square mile farm colony of African American farms and ranches in the 1920s. The rehabilitation project will culminate in a new visitor’s center and museum for the historic town. Eastern Michigan University received $75,000 to research the historic cultural resources in east Detroit regarding the African American struggle for equality. The findings will be made public and used to develop a civil rights driving tour in the area. Clemson University received $55,625...