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© Blavity, Inc., 2022

Emmett Till’s Childhood Chicago Home To Receive Landmark Funding

This year’s recipients of the grant money exemplify the “beauty” and “complexity” of the Black culture, experience, and history in America.

July 21, 2022 at 7:55 pm

It was announced yesterday that Emmett Till’s childhood Chicago home will be one of 33 sites to receive a portion of $3 million in a grant from the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

The African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund will restore 33 historical sites & organizations that are pivotal pieces of African American history — including the Chicago (IL) house of Emmett Till’s mother! These places deserve to be preserved! https://t.co/TdVpMjAz5m
— Ben Crump (@AttorneyCrump) July 20, 2022

The grant money will be rewarded as an initiative of the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund.

And will be spent towards the preservation and protection of various locations pivotal to Black history.

According to CNN, the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund was created in 2017, with the intent of “elevating and preserving the stories and places of African American resilience, activism, and achievements.”

This year’s recipients of the grant money exemplify the “beauty” and “complexity” of the Black culture, experience, and history in America.

“This year, we wanted to ensure that we were balancing public memory and not just presenting places associated with a painful past, but uplifting stories of arts, culture, entrepreneurship and achievement that are fundamental to the nation itself,” said the fund’s Executive Director, Brent Leggs.

Leggs also shared that out of the total $3 million, individual grants will range from $50,000 to $150,000.

And recipients will be rewarded based on the fund’s four funding categories: building capital, project planning, increasing organizational reach, and education and programming.

According to CNN, the Till residence will receive a grant of $150,000. With a direct intent to begin repairing the home’s interior so that it can resemble how it looked when Emmett Till last lived there in 1955.

“This house is a sacred treasure from our perspective and our goal is to restore it and reinvent it as an international heritage pilgrimage destination,” said Naomi Davis, executive director of Blacks in Green, to NPR.

According to REVOLT, the Till residence was purchased by the local nonprofit group back in 2020.

Davis also shared that the group is working towards opening the Till residence to the public in 2025.

CNN reports that other sites set to receive funding include: Detroit’s Blue Bird Inn, The Mound Bayou Bank in Jacksonville, Mississippi, the Brown Chapel African Methodist Church in Selma, Alabama, and the Eldorado Ballroom in Houston, Texas.