African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund

African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund
Name	African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund
Formation	2017
Founder	Rhonda S. Hamilton
Type	Nonprofit preservation fund
Headquarters	Washington, D.C.
Parent organization	National Trust for Historic Preservation

African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund is a national preservation initiative established to identify, document, and safeguard sites, stories, and artists central to African American history and culture. The fund operates as a program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation and mobilizes resources to conserve landmarks associated with activists, inventors, performers, writers, and community leaders across the United States. Through grantmaking, advocacy, and technical assistance, the fund addresses neglect and loss of cultural landscapes tied to African American experiences spanning slavery, Reconstruction, the Great Migration, the Civil Rights Movement, and contemporary artistic production.

History

Launched in 2017 during the tenure of J. Paul Getty Trust-era preservation dialogue and in the wake of debates over contested monuments such as the Statue of Liberty controversies and the Charlottesville 2017 Unite the Right rally, the effort grew out of initiatives by the National Trust for Historic Preservation and allied organizations including The Smithsonian Institution, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and local Historic Charleston Foundation affiliates. Early supporters included philanthropies like the Ford Foundation, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, and the Surdna Foundation, and partnerships with historians connected to Howard University, Spelman College, Morehouse College, and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture informed strategy. Leadership drew on preservationists who had worked on sites such as Monticello, Montgomery's Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church, and Harriet Tubman National Historical Park to craft an agenda responsive to community needs demonstrated during events like the Black Lives Matter protests and anniversaries of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.

Mission and Objectives

The fund's mission centers on preserving African American-built environments and intangible heritage tied to figures including Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth, W. E. B. Du Bois, Ida B. Wells, and Langston Hughes. Objectives include expanding recognition of places related to the Great Migration, documenting sites linked to Rosa Parks, Fannie Lou Hamer, Stokely Carmichael, and local organizers, and protecting artistic spaces associated with Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, August Wilson, Toni Morrison, and Gwendolyn Brooks. The program aims to use tools employed by entities such as the National Register of Historic Places, Historic American Buildings Survey, and municipal landmark commissions in cities like New Orleans, Chicago, Atlanta, Detroit, and Baltimore.

Programs and Initiatives

Grant programs support stewards of landmarks tied to musicians like Bessie Smith and Robert Johnson, venues such as The Apollo Theater and Preservation Hall, and churches connected to leaders like Reverend Jesse Jackson and Rev. Ralph David Abernathy. Initiatives include technical assistance modeled on collaborations with the Pew Charitable Trusts and training workshops delivered alongside curators from the National Museum of African American History and Culture, archivists from the Library of Congress, and preservationists from The Getty Conservation Institute. The fund has run campaigns to document oral histories linked to Zora Neale Hurston, James Baldwin, Alain Locke, Nina Simone, Maya Angelou, and to map cultural corridors through partnerships with municipal programs in Philadelphia, Houston, Los Angeles, Memphis, and Charleston.

Partnerships and Funding

The fund leverages donations from corporate partners including foundations allied with Bank of America, Walmart Foundation, and Bloomberg Philanthropies, while coordinating with advocacy groups such as Preservation Action and Trust for Public Land. It engages academic institutions like Columbia University, University of Michigan, Yale University, and Duke University for research on sites connected to Nat Turner, Marcus Garvey, Booker T. Washington, and Madam C. J. Walker. Funding mechanisms mirror those used by the Historic Preservation Fund and include matching grants, capital campaigns, and community-driven crowdfunding used successfully for projects at sites like Freedmen's Town and the Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail.

Major Projects and Preservation Efforts

Major projects have included stabilization and rehabilitation of residences, cultural centers, and cemeteries associated with Medgar Evers, Thurgood Marshall, Rube Foster, Lena Horne, and Paul Laurence Dunbar. The fund has prioritized endangered landscapes such as plantation-era sites reinterpreting enslaved people's lives, neighborhood districts like Bronzeville, Black Wall Street (Tulsa)-adjacent areas, and industrial heritage linked to the Great Migration routes through St. Louis, Cleveland, and Pittsburgh. Collaborations with the National Park Service and state historic preservation offices have advanced work at places like Fort Mose, Whitney Plantation Historic District, and smaller community museums preserving archives of organizations such as the Congress of Racial Equality and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.

Impact and Recognition

The fund's impact includes elevated national awareness of sites tied to civil rights history, increased visitation to restored landmarks associated with figures such as Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Coretta Scott King, and enhanced capacity for local stewards in cities including Savannah, Richmond, Birmingham, and Jackson. Recognition has come from awards and acknowledgments by institutions such as the Preservation Leadership Forum, American Alliance of Museums, and state cultural commissions, and coverage in media outlets documenting heritage work around anniversaries like the Centennial of the Tulsa Race Massacre and observances of Juneteenth. By connecting philanthropy, scholarship, and community activism, the fund contributes to broader efforts to preserve and interpret African American heritage for future generations.

Category:Cultural heritage preservation organizations Category:African American history