Cincinnati Preservation plans to use a combined $65,000 in grant funding to conduct a yearlong study focused on identifying and protecting historically significant Black sites.
The organization – formerly known as the Cincinnati Preservation Association – received $50,000 from the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund, a program from the National Trust for Historic Preservation, as well as another $15,000 from the Carol Ann and Ralph V. Haile, Jr. Foundation.
Cincinnati Preservation is a longstanding nonprofit that provides education about and advocacy for regional historic sites and structures.
The funding will enable researchers to create the “Greater Cincinnati’s Black and African American Historic Context Study.” The report will serve as a foundation for numerous new National Register nominations and Local Historic designations.
Beth Johnson, executive director of Cincinnati Preservation, called the report a potentially “huge step toward” ensuring numerous sites of Black history are not only saved from demolition but also receive recognition for “their cultural significance and rich heritage.”
Working to save local Black stories
Currently, only 2% of all protected sites in the United States have an association with Black history, Johnson said. However, Cincinnati Preservation has worked with local communities of color to change those figures locally through its Sites of Black History Initiative.
Recent accomplishments include:
- Helped obtain a historic marker for Sarah and Peter Fossett who were Black abolitionists, Underground Railroad conductors and founders of the First Baptist Church of Cumminsville.
- Recognized Union Baptist Cemetery’s work to restore the oldest African American burial ground in Hamilton County, still used by Union Baptist Church, the second oldest black congregation in Cincinnati.
- In partnership with Walnut Hills Historical Society, Cincinnati Preservation supported local historic designation of First Baptist Church, protecting the site from possible demolition.
“Thanks to this funding, we are now ready to increase that (2% number) in both Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky,” Johnson said.
An investment in local history
Johnson voiced appreciation to both the Action Fund and the Haile Foundation for their support of Cincinnati Preservation’s dedication to “telling stories of African American achievement and resilience.”
Cincinnati Preservation is one of 30 grantees to receive money during this round of funding from Action Fund. The $3 million the organization handed out will go toward the preservation of a range of historic sites, buildings and landscapes that represent Black cultural heritage.
John Yung, program manager at the Haile Foundation, said the Cincinnati region is home to a plethora of “stories, sites and distinguished figures” of cultural significance and his organization is proud to support efforts to protect them.
Details about Cincinnati Preservation’s Sites of Black History Initiative are available online.
“(We look) forward to what Cincinnati Preservation will find and how we can better celebrate, honor, and understand the diversity of our city’s cultural heritage,” Yung said.
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