Historic Black Towns Alliance – 5: National Trust Innovation

This afternoon the National Trust for Historic Preservation (NTHP) announced that the Historic Black Towns and Settlements Alliance (HBTSA) has received a one-time national Innovation Grant in the field of historic preservation. A large number of applications were submitted from organizations in Alabama, the District of Columbia, Kansas, Louisiana, eastern Massachusetts (broadly defined as the Boston metropolitan area), Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, and Washington. The HBTSA proposal was researched and prepared by Everett L. Fly, Ellen P. Hunt, Dr. Carey Latimore, and N.Y. Nathiri.

The HBTSA is composed of five of America’s most historic Black towns:
Tuskegee, Macon County, Alabama (settled c.1833; incorporated 1843)
Grambling, Lincoln Parish, Louisiana (settled c.1865; incorporated 1953)
Hobson City, Calhoun County, Alabama (settled c.1865; incorporated 1899)
Eatonville, Orange County, Florida (settled c.1881; incorporated 1887)
Mound Bayou, Bolivar County, Mississippi (settled c.1887; incorporated 1898)

The Innovation Grant will support planning and programmatic costs up to $10,000.

The project meets National Trust interests in the following preservation priorities:
• Building sustainable communities: Demonstrating that historic preservation supports economic, environmental and cultural sustainability in communities.
• Reimagining historic sites: Application of innovative, replicable strategies that create new models for historic site interpretation and stewardship.
• Promoting diversity and place: Broaden the cultural diversity of historic preservation by exposing the depth and scope of American history embodied in historic Black towns and settlements as a collective national resource.