Churches tied to civil rights movement awarded National Park Service preservation funds
Tabernacle Baptist Church in Selma, Alabama. (Photo by Nyttend used via Creative Commons license)
Six churches are among 39 projects being awarded grants from the National Park Service to preserve historical examples of the civil rights activism of Black people in the United States.
The recipients of the $23.4 million in awards include the Historic Tabernacle Baptist Church Selma AL Legacy Foundation. The foundation will receive $744,545 to help protect the interior of the building and enhance its air quality. The church was the site of the first mass meeting for proponents of the voting rights movement and the spiritual home of several presidents of the National Baptist Convention USA Inc.
“The Interior Department and the National Park Service are entrusted with using the power of place to tell the story of our country,” Jordan Fifer, a spokesperson for NPS, said in a May 3 statement.
