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Shaw University Awarded $150K From The National Trust For Historic Preservation

@SpectacularMag

RALEIGH – On February 28, 2022, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, through its HBCU Cultural Heritage Stewardship Initiative, awarded more than $650,000 in grants to five Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) to fund Cultural Heritage Stewardship Plans. Shaw University received $150,000 and will use the funds to preserve important architecture, historic assets, cultural landscapes, and collections, which represent more than 150 years of learning, growing, and empowerment for students, faculty, and alumni. 

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Dillard

Shaw University President Dr. Paulette Dillard said, “The Shaw University community expresses its sincerest appreciation to the National Trust for Historic Preservation for awarding the campus a $150,000 planning grant to assist our efforts in preserving African American history. From educating the former enslaved to graduating some of the first African American doctors to helping ignite the civil rights movement, the legacy of Shaw University is woven into the fabric of American history. Preserving the treasures of our historic buildings will extend the knowledge and contribute to the powerful narrative about the indelible contributions of this university.”

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Estey Hall

Shaw University, founded in 1865, will develop a campus-wide plan to support and coordinate the ongoing preservation of its 65-acre campus. In recent years, Shaw has undertaken rehabilitation of historic Leonard Hall (1883) and Estey Hall (1873). The campus-wide plan will enable the university to develop rehabilitation plans for additional historic buildings as well as address the goal of connecting its campus back to downtown Raleigh while removing public access barriers.

The program, launched by the National Trust’s Action Fund in 2020, is a partnership with The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, National Endowment for Humanities, Ford Foundation, The JPB Foundation, J.M. Kaplan Fund, and the Executive Leadership Council. The current program is a $3.2 million initiative that offers the HBCUs funding but also leverages the Trust’s 70 years of experience and expertise to help guide the restoration and preservation process at each college or university. In total, the National Trust’s Action Fund has partnered with 13 HBCUs and funded 6 campus-wide and 7 individual-building plans to date.

This year’s other HBCU awardees are:

  • Florida A&M University (Tallahassee, Florida) to develop a campus-wide stewardship plan for its 422-acre campus (1887);
  • Johnson C. Smith University (Charlotte, North Carolina) to develop a preservation plan for its Historic Quad (1867);
  • Rust College (Holly Springs, Mississippi) to develop a campus-wide stewardship plan for its campus (1866); and
  • Voorhees College (Denmark, South Carolina) to develop a campus-wide stewardship plan for its 380-acre campus (1897).