The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
million over five years to preserve and highlight African-American historical contributions.
The recipients constitute a range of sites and needs across America. Some like Shockoe Bottom in Richmond, Va., are connected with the slave trade while others, like the John and Alice Coltrane Home, in Huntington, N.Y., are connected with African-American artistic contributions.
Historic Bethel Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala., is part of a consortium of civil rights sites in the city that received a grant. Martha Bouyer of Bethel Baptist says the church, home to famous civil rights activist pastor Fred Shuttlesworth, will use the money for a historic structures report — a detailed accounting of the building which can guide future preservation efforts.
“I’ve been trying for years to get this done,” Bouyer said of the grant.
Paul A. Ellis Jr. is executive director of the August Wilson House in Pittsburgh, Pa., which pays homage to the AfricanAmerican playwright who wrote such works as “Fences.” Ellis, who’s also Wilson’s nephew, said the organization will match the $50,000 grant from the trust and use it to create a series of interpretive exhibits and interactive techniques that “tell the story of August Wilson and the community that served as the inspiration for his plays.”
“That’s why it means so much to get this grant, to keep moving forward with this project,” he said. “We’re here in August Wilson’s hometown and we want the world to know his story.”