National Park Service Distributes $500,000 in Grants to Underground Railroad Sites and Projects

The National Park Service (NPS) has awarded $500,000 in grants to a variety of research, preservation and outreach activities related to the Underground Railroad and freedom seekers. In collaboration with the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH), the grants were distributed through a competitive process to 20 current or prospective NPS Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Program members in 14 states.

“These grants are vital to uncovering and sharing previously untold stories related to our country’s history,” said National Park Service Director Chuck Sams. “They help expand public awareness, connect us with our shared heritage, and provide a more complete and inclusive account of our evolution as a country.”

The funds will support projects that enhance the preservation or interpretation of sites with verifiable connections to stories of enslaved persons seeking freedom, including the Underground Railroad, one of the nation’s earliest civil rights movements. The projects include preservation of Underground Railroad sites, development of Underground Railroad curriculum, collection of information about freedom seekers who joined the Union Army, and research on self-emancipation in Sacramento during the California Gold Rush.

The grantees were selected based on their competitive ranking from an application pool that included over $1.7 million in project requests. Grants are only available to designated Network to Freedom program member sites, facilities, and programs, as well as organizations seeking to document Underground Railroad history. Please visit NPS.gov for more information about the grant process and eligibility for future rounds.

The Network to Freedom Program honors, preserves, and promotes the history of resistance to enslavement through collaboration with individuals, organizations, local, state and federal entities. It has more than 800 listings, all with verifiable connections to the Underground Railroad. These listings are catalysts for innovation, partnership and scholarship that advances the right to self-determination and freedom from oppression for all people.

“The Association for the Study of African American Life and History salutes the 2024 Network to Freedom grantees for perseverance in disseminating knowledge of the African American experience as it involves the Underground Railroad and its vast tentacles of freedom,” said ASALH Executive Director Sylvia Cyrus. “In the spirit of Dr. Carter G. Woodson, the founder of ASALH, who observed that ‘Knowledge is power,’ the research, public discourse and collaboration with diverse partners helps different communities discover history related to their community as well as surrounding communities.”

The grant recipients by state are:

California

• $14,000 to the Sacramento Network to Freedom Trail Project to prepare a nomination for a Network to Freedom listing for the site of St. Andrews AME and Hacket House.

Connecticut

• $5,000 to William Grimes Grave Site in Grove Street Cemetery to prepare a new nomination for a Network to Freedom listing.

Florida

• $37,700 to the Angola Maroon Community for a comic book educating children about the maroon community.

Georgia

• $5,000 to the McDonough Memorial Cemetery to write a nomination for a new Network to Freedom listing.

Illinois

• $35,000 to the Lucius Read House for a roof replacement and exterior preservation.
• $3,559 to the Bristol Congressional Church for a new sign.

Iowa

• $1,800 to Winterset “Old Log” Jail for a new sign.

Kansas

• $15,688 to Constitution Hall in Topeka to build a digital presence through a website and social media.

Maryland

• $13,138 to Maryland State Archives to complete a research project called Revolts and Rebellions: Absconding from Slavery project. They will recognize freedom efforts and their consequences between Nat Turner’s 1831 Rebellion, the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act, and the 1851 Christiana Revolt.
• $64,148 to Button Farm Almanac Tour to create an audio tour to accompany the in-person guided almanac tour.
• $30,000 to Mount Clare to expand curriculum regarding primary sources used in Underground Railroad research, along with information about the historic train station, that provide educational opportunities for students and teachers.

Massachusetts

• $53,469 to the Samuel May House for a historic structures report to assess their priorities regarding preservation of the building.

Michigan

• $8,400 to the Creating Teacher Storytellers: Reviewing Local Evidence of the John White Story for an interpretation project.

Missouri

• $6,000 to Mount Pleasant Baptist Church and Cemetery for a research project about eight enslaved men who joined the United States Colored troops.
• $99,920 for an interpretation project at the Tower Grove House at Missouri Botanical Garden.
• $16,604 for signage at the Smith Cemetery.
• $4,000 for a research project at the Missouri River Crossing of Sixteen Enslaved Men at Howell’s Ferry.

New York

• $73,214 for the Cataract House site to conduct archaeological excavation and research about Underground Railroad activism in Niagra Falls.

North Carolina

• $11,000 for an interpretive monument and landscaping at Water Street Landing Park.

Texas

• $2,320 for new wayside exhibit and outreach materials for the Jackson Ranch Church and Martin Jackson Cemetery.