The Turf Club
Grantee: Asbury Park African American Music Project, Inc. | Asbury Park, New Jersey
An African-American music venue, the Turf Club is the last structure representing the vibrancy and history of Springwood Avenue. Located in the heart of the black community and its once-thriving commercial and entertainment district in the coastal community of Asbury Park in Jersey, the Club building will be rehabilitated to help save this vacant landmark.
Blue Bird Inn
Grantee: Detroit Sound Conservancy | Detroit, Michigan
Detroit’s Blue Bird Inn, cradle of bebop jazz and refuge of the black community before Motown, was a victim of neighborhood disinvestment. “The Bird” will undergo rehabilitation of its interior and its mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems, with the hope of once again becoming an archive as well as a gathering space and concert hall.
Quinn AME Chapel
Beneficiary: Develop Louisville | Kentucky
Louisville’s Quinn Chapel AME has a long history of commitment to civil rights, dating back to its congregation’s founding in 1838, when it was known as the “Church” until today. abolitionist. Power to the building, essential to the future rehabilitation and reuse of the church building, will be restored.
Brown Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church
Grantee: Brown Chapel AME Church Preservation Society | Selma, Alabama
In 1965, civil rights protesters, including the late Rep. John Lewis, gathered at the historic 1908 Brown Chapel AME Church before attempting to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge and were beaten and attacked by soldiers of the ‘State the day known as “Bloody Sunday”. which became the catalyst for the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Water and termite damage will be addressed, along with the replacement of the structural beams of the tower domes.
Historic Kappa House
Beneficiary: Foundation for the Restoration of the Historic Kappa House | Washington, D.C.
Built in 1908 by architect Léon Dessez, who also designed the vice president’s residence at the Naval Observatory, the historic Kappa House is a Georgian-style architectural gem. Owned by the DC Alumni Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. since 1949, it was the first home purchased by a Black Greek-letter organization in the nation’s capital. The rehabilitation of the third and fourth floors of the building will ensure continued use as a community resource.
James Weldon Johnson’s Writing Booth
Beneficiary: James Weldon Johnson Foundation | Great Barrington, Massachusetts
Famed poet, writer, songwriter and civil rights activist James Weldon Johnson, known for the song “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” sought creative refuge in this small log cabin located in a peaceful grove of hemlock trees. The roof, chimney and foundation of the cabin will be stabilized and repaired for future use as a writing office and studio for scholars and authors.
Mound Bayou Bank
Grantee: Mississippi Heritage Trust | Jackson, Mississippi
Founded by businessman Charles Banks described by Booker T. Washington as “the most influential black businessman in the United States,” the 1904 Mound Bayou Bank served as a symbol of progress, entrepreneurship and business enterprise for Jackson’s thriving black community. Exterior rehabilitation will ensure its future use as a museum and visitors center.
Coggswell-Taylor House and Jackson Street Store
Grantee: Montana Heritage Commission | Virginia City, Montana
Business pioneers Minerva Coggswell and Jack Taylor lived and operated businesses in these buildings for over sixty-five years. The Coggswell-Taylor House and Jackson Street Store, dating from 1866-1867, will be stabilized and rehabilitated, telling the stories of African American pioneers and entrepreneurs who called and lived on Montana’s mining frontier.
King Solomon Masonic Lodge #1
Grantee: New Bern Preservation Foundation | New Bern, North Carolina
In continuous use since its construction in 1871, King Solomon Masonic Lodge No. 1 was the first African-American Masonic lodge established in North Carolina. The New Bern Black Community Center, its interior walls, ceilings and floors will be repaired and its mechanical systems replaced.
Okahumpka Rosenwald School
Beneficiary: Okahumpka Community Club | Okahumpka, Florida
Of the 120 schools for African-American students built in Florida through a partnership between educator Booker T. Washington and philanthropist Julius Rosenwald, only 23 remain. The vacant Okahumpka Rosenwald School, built in 1929 for children of black farm workers and rural workers, will have its foundations stabilized and its roof and windows restored.
Eldorado Ballroom
Beneficiary: Row House Project | Houston, TX
Once listed in the Green Book as a must-visit destination for African Americans in Houston’s Third Ward, the Eldorado Ballroom has a unique history as a first-class retail space and music venue that has hosted music legends music such as Ella Fitzgerald and Ray Charles. . This project will repair and restore windows on the ground and second floors of the site.
Second Baptist Church of Los Angeles
Recipient: Second Baptist Church | Los Angeles, California
Paul R. Williams, the first black architect of the American Institute of Architects (AIA), was known for his modernist style and influential work throughout Los Angeles. Designed by Williams in 1926 and then transformed into a civil rights sanctuary in the mid-20th century, the vacant Second Baptist Church will make much-needed structural repairs and replace deteriorated wooden trusses before it can reopen the historic church building.
Tyler Hall at Shaw University
Recipient: Shaw University | Raleigh, North Carolina
For more than a century, Tyler Hall has served the students of Shaw University, the South’s oldest HBCU, as a library and community hospital. Windows will be repaired and restored and the HVAC system replaced.
Stillman College Winsborough Hall
Recipient: Stillman College | Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Built in 1922, Winsborough Hall was Stillman College’s first women’s residence hall and the first school for black women supported by the Presbyterian Church. Over the years, the “honors dormitory” became a refuge for students during the civil rights movement. The roof will be repaired and the site reused as senior living space, creating a multi-generational campus experience.
Home of Dr. Robert Walter “Whirlwind” Johnson
Beneficiary: Whirlwind Johnson Foundation | Lynchburg, Virginia
Dr. Robert Walter “Whirlwind” Johnson was a force behind the integration of tennis. Coach of two African-American Grand Slam champions, Althea Gibson and Arthur Ashe, Dr. Johnson changed the tennis landscape and allowed generations of black athletes to train on his backyard courts. Rehabilitating his home’s foundation, exterior (including roof), porch, windows and doors will ensure his legacy continues.
Whitney Plantation Store
Recipient: Whitney Plantation | Wallace, Louisiana
Known for its deliberate interpretation of plantation life from the perspective of slaves, the Whitney Plantation will revitalize its Plantation Store storefront (circa 1890), allowing it to continue telling its story of the Jim Crow era.
Dumas Pharmacy building
Beneficiary: Dumas Foundation for Building Restoration | Natchez, Mississippi
The Dumas family constructed two commercial buildings between 1906 and 1913 that housed doctors’ and dentists’ offices, a pharmacy, and a soda fountain that served as a resource and business center within the black community. The roof will be repaired and stabilized on both buildings.
National Buffalo Soldiers Museum
Recipient: Buffalo Soldiers National Museum | Houston, TX
The National Buffalo Soldiers’ Museum, located in the 1925 Houston Light Guard Armory building, houses one of the largest private collections of African American military artifacts. The funding will be used to repair the building’s walls, steel base and exterior brick masonry to better preserve and protect its collection.
Learn more about the Action Fund and the 2022 recipients HERE.
