News Release

National Park Service awards $3.27 million to help preserve America’s civil rights history

Tawawa Chimney Corner in Wilberforce, OH was the residence of Rev. Benjamin W. Arnett and Rev. Revedy C. Ransom, both African Methodist Episcopal Church bishops active in the civil rights movement.

Curtis Ransom

News Release Date: April 28, 2022

Contact: [e-mail]

WASHINGTON – Ten historic sites associated with the preservation of civil rights history in America will receive a combined $3.27 million in National Park Service History of Equal Rights Grants. These competitive grants support physical preservation work and preservation planning activities, including historic building repair and rehabilitation, architectural planning, and land surveys.

“The History of Equal Rights Grant program helps preserve sites where communities came together to advance civil rights,” said NPS Director Chuck Sams. “These funds support our State, Tribal, and local governments and nonprofit partners in telling a more complete story of the road to equal rights for all Americans.” 

This years’ grants will support the preservation of sites like the LeMoyne House in Washington County, Pennsylvania, center of Dr. LeMoyne’s activity with the Abolition Movement and the Underground Railroad, and Cincinnati’s Potter’s Field, the city’s former indigent burial ground from 1852 to 1981.

History of Equal Rights Award Recipients 

State	City	Project	Grantee	Award
Alabama	Birmingham	Preservation and Repair of St Paul United Methodist Church	St. Paul United Methodist Church	$500,000
Alabama	Tuscaloosa	Exterior Rehabilitation of Winsborough Hall	Stillman College	$500,000
Kansas	Kansas City	Physical Preservation of the Vernon School	Vernon Multipurpose Center, Inc.	$185,680
New Jersey	East Orange	Preservation Planning for Hurricane Ida Repairs	Alpha Lodge No. 116 F&AM, A NJ Nonprofit Corporation	$16,235
New York	Farmington	Restoration of 1816 Farmington Quaker Meetinghouse	1816 Farmington Quaker Meetinghouse Museum	$483,727
North Carolina	Red Springs	Flora Macdonald Campus Mortar and Window Preservation	Flora Macdonald Educational Foundation	$500,000
Ohio	Cincinnati	Preservation Planning of Cincinnati Potter's Field	Price Hill Will	$34,694
Ohio	Cleveland	Rehabilitation of the Eleanor B. Rainey Memorial Institute	Cliquepoint Data Foundation	$500,000
Ohio	Wilberforce	Exterior Rehabilitation of Tawawa Chimney Corner	The Bishop Reverdy C. & Emma S. Ransom Foundation, Inc.	$478,414
Pennsylvania	Washington	Exterior Preservation of the LeMoyne House	Washington County Historical Society, Inc.	$75,000
			Total	$3,273,750

Congress appropriated funding for the History of Equal Rights Grant Program in FY2021 through the Historic Preservation Fund (HPF). The HPF uses revenue from federal oil and gas leases on the Outer Continental Shelf, assisting with a broad range of preservation projects without expending tax dollars, with the intent to mitigate the loss of a nonrenewable resource to benefit the preservation of other irreplaceable resources. 

Established in 1977, the HPF is authorized at $150 million per year through 2023 and has provided more than $2 billion in historic preservation grants to states, Tribes, local governments, and nonprofit organizations. Administered by the NPS, HPF funds may be appropriated by Congress to support a variety of historic preservation projects to help preserve the nation’s cultural resources.

For more information about NPS historic preservation programs and grants, please visit nps.gov/stlpg/ 

www.nps.gov 

About the National Park Service. More than 20,000 National Park Service employees care for America's 423 national parks and work with communities across the nation to help preserve local history and create close-to-home recreational opportunities. Learn more at www.nps.gov, and on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.