Mellon Foundation Grants $750,000 to WeGOJA

Press Release

The WeGOJA Foundation has received a $750,000 Humanities in Place grant from the Mellon Foundation to build the foundation’s organizational capacity and develop resources that assist in preserving historic spaces.

The funding covers two years of project work and will result in a comprehensive program that helps property owners and advocates meet their preservation goals – from acquiring official state historical markers and listings on the National Register to finding expertise and resources for preservation planning and restoration work.

“We are delighted to have received significant funding from the Mellon Foundation,” said Dr. Larry Watson, a history professor at South Carolina State University and the University of South Carolina, and Chairman of the Board for the WeGOJA Foundation. “This support helps us meet a longstanding goal of fully serving a constituency that can be overwhelmed by the complex process of preservation. We hope to make it easier for people to find the resources they need to save their cultural and historic places and encourage more participation in preservation.”

WeGOJA focuses on creating robust platforms for the public to discover African American history. The Foundation was instrumental in publishing the African American Historic Places in South Carolina guide, which served as a basis for its award-winning GreenBookofSC.com. The Foundation recently collaborated with Hub City Press and the International African American Museum to publish a paperback version of the guide. WeGOJA also produces teacher’s guides to help educators find curriculum-based solutions to sharing African American history in the classroom.

Formerly the South Carolina African American Heritage Foundation, WeGOJA is also a leader in acquiring official state historical markers for African American sites across the state. In 1993, there were only 36 sites in South Carolina that carried a marker and/or were listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Over the decades since, the work and advocacy of foundation members, in their support of the South Carolina African American Heritage Commission, has resulted in more than 400 documented sites.

The work is continuous, however.

“We know there are so many more places in South Carolina that need attention,” Dr. Watson said. “From cemeteries, historic homes and schools, to business districts and churches, the footprint of African Americans in the Palmetto State is vast and should be protected so it can be shared.”

The Foundation currently is working with the Gullah Geechee Chamber Foundation and S.C. Sea Grant Consortium on the development of a Gullah Geechee Seafood Trail and with the Conservation Voters of South Carolina on the feasibility of a proposed Rosenwald School trail.

For more information, visit WeGOJA.org.

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