Nps — St. Paul United Methodist Church restoration project has begun – May 29, 2023 (Pat Byington/Bham Now)

Civil rights sites in Anniston, Birmingham and Montgomery are slated to receive over $3.1 million from the National Park Service’s (NPS) African American Civil Rights grant program.

“As the Representative of Alabama’s Civil Rights district, I take seriously my responsibility to ensure that we preserve the living legacy of the Civil Rights Movement,” said Rep. Sewell in a news release.

6 Awards

Below is the list of this year’s grantees from Alabama:

City of Anniston for Story Mapping and Formalization of Operations and Maintenance for the Anniston Civil Rights Trail – $74,800

Historic Bethel Baptist Church Community Restoration Fund in Birmingham for historic preservation – $750,000
St. Paul United Methodist Church in Birmingham for preservation and restoration – $750,000
Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church in Montgomery for repair and rehabilitation – $750,000
Alabama Historical Commission in Montgomery for the Freedom Rides Museum Vintage Greyhound Bus Virtual Reality Experience – $75,000
Alabama Historical Commission in Montgomery for rehabilitation of the second floor of the Moore Building – $750,000

The African American Civil Rights Grant Program helps document, interpret, and preserve sites and stories related to the African American struggle to gain equal rights as citizens. The grants are funded by the Historic Preservation Fund (HPF) and administered by the NPS. Grants fund a broad range of planning, development, and research projects for historic sites including: survey, inventory, documentation, interpretation, education, architectural services, historic structure reports, preservation plans, and “bricks and mortar” repair.

Big Win for Alabama

Steps in front of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church – Montgomery (Pat Byington/The Bama Buzz)

“Each year, I’m proud to lead the effort in Congress to increase funding for the National Park Service’s African American Civil Rights Grant Program to ensure that America’s civil rights history lives on,” Rep. Sewell added. “This $3.1 million is a big win for the State of Alabama and will help ensure that faces and places of the Movement are never forgotten!”

In 2022, the National Park Service’s African American Civil Rights Grant Program appropriated $3.6 million to 11 Alabama civil rights sites.

For more information about NPS historic preservation programs and grants, please visit nps.gov/stlpg/.Get more stories like this delivered straight to your inbox—Sign up for our FREE newsletter.