Our goal is to provide funding to support preservation of historic African American cemeteries. For this project we define "historic cemeteries" as cemeteries with multiple graves dating from approximately 1800 to 1942. Our focus is on the southeastern United States: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas. Funding will go towards projects such as mapping, site assessment, and other data collection, conservation treatments for grave markers and other funerary features, landscape stabilization, etc. An annual award of up to $50,000 will be given to a group that has identified a cemetery in need of such attention and agrees to shepherd the project through the multi-year process.

It is our pleasure to announce that the first grant recipient is the Friends of Geer Cemetery in Durham, NC. We encourage everyone interested in cemetery preservation to follow their project over the coming year. More information can also be found on their facebook page and the In Plain Sight project page.