An African American Heritage Grant from Indiana Landmarks helped restoration of St. Stephen's AME in Hanover.

Finding the treasures. When “progress” calls for redevelopment of cities, African American sites and structures are often the first to disappear. In small towns and rural areas, black landmarks frequently fade into obscurity.

 

The African American Landmarks Committee (AALC) is working to change that trend and to harness the power of African American heritage. The AALC advocates not only the preservation of historic structures but an expansive view of what is worth being saved.

 

Indiana Landmarks’s African American Landmarks Committee steers a cultural preservation program that includes: 

• Surveys to find, document, and celebrate places significant to Indiana’s African American heritage.
• Technical assistance to owners of historic African American properties that are endangered.
• Outreach and educational programs to gather, exchange and present information about historic African American places that are a vital part of our state’s and nation’s heritage.
• Financial support through the African American Heritage Grants Fund, a program to assist local civic organizations, schools, libraries, historical societies, and other nonprofit groups in funding programs, studies, and initiatives that promote preservation of African American places.

The AALC invites everyone throughout the state, especially people of color, to get involved. By becoming a member of Indiana Landmarks you become part of a broad-based, statewide organization dedicated to protecting and restoring the historic places that show the breadth and diversity of Indiana’s heritage.

 

For more information about the African American Landmarks Committee, contact Mark Dollase in our Central Regional Office.