Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Interior and the National Park Service announced the recipients of the 2018 African American Civil Rights Grants Program. Grant awardees include the following National Treasures and related sites: the Mountain View Officers’ Club ($500,000) at Fort Huachuca in Arizona; Hinchliffe Stadium ($500,000) in New Jersey; Sixteenth Street Baptist Church ($500,000), part of the Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument in Alabama; a Rosenwald School ($247,094) in Texas; and Clayborn Temple ($520,000) in Tennessee. The following is a statement from Stephanie K. Meeks, president and CEO of the National Trust for Historic Preservation:

“The National Trust applauds this announcement by the U.S. Department of the Interior and the National Park Service to further preserve important places of civil rights struggle, conscience and activism, and we encourage more of this across our nation.

“We envision a country where everyone can see themselves, and their heritage, in our collective story and our cultural landscape. Along with our local partners, public and private, we are committed to acknowledging our difficult past to learn from these irreplaceable sites of achievement, and bring to light the role they have played in building American society.

“In line with the National Trust’s African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund—the largest preservation campaign ever undertaken on behalf of African American history—funding support for these National Treasures expands our understanding of the extraordinary contributions that African Americans have made to our nation. From a segregated U.S. Army and education system to Negro League Baseball and the iconic Sanitation Workers’ Strike of 1968, preserving these historic sites is essential in telling the full American story and creating a more inclusive national identity for future generations.”