- There are 33 sites and programs across the country slated to receive assistance from a $3 million African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund, which is aimed at preserving African American history and landmarks.
- “In many ways, the goal is to help our nation understand that African American history is American history,’’ said Brent Leggs, executive director of the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund.
- Sites receiving grants include other landmarks such as the home of civil rights icons Medgar and Myrlie Evers in Jackson, Mississippi, and the Chicago home of Emmett Till.
WASHINGTON – Termites had destroyed beams at the historic Brown Chapel AME Church in Selma, Alabama, where decades earlier civil rights activists gathered before marching across the Edmund Pettus Bridge.
Water had damaged the walls. Balconies were sagging.
Armed with a newly awarded $150,000 grant, officials at the 114-year-old chapel plan to use the money to help repair parts of the church, which is closed to the public. Earlier this year, it was put on the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s list of 11 most endangered historic places.