Historical Black Churches Survive to Tell Their Own Stories
How one fund has made it their mission to prevent Black churches from disappearing.
Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina is the church where a white supremacist killed nine parishioners during a Bible study in 2015 as they trustingly allowed this white supremacist to join them in bible study.
Since that time, the church had struggled financially as their doors were about to close and before doing so they received funding that allowed them to remain solvent. In the recent past, also funding was allocated for the preservation of Bethel Baptist Church in Birmingham, a stalwart of the civil rights movement that was bombed in the 1950s.
Preserving the cultural heritage of historic congregations, $20 million was allocated to safeguard the preservation of these Black churches across the nation as they remain to tell their story and their own history.
Lilly Endowment Incorporation’s goal is to support religious, educational, charitable causes, and the preservation of the Black Churches Project according to the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
They have spearheaded their support via the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund where $20 million donations will help…
