Alabama Historical Commission receives $50K grant for African American school documentation

The Alabama Historical Commission is working to make more widespread awareness of the history and documentation of African American schools in Alabama.

The initiative is a step to make it easier to nominate historic African American schools to the National Register of Historic Places. When it's time to nominate the schools, this effort will have already provided all of the documentation to prove its significance.

The project will encompass African American schools from reconstruction through desegregation. The Alabama Historical Commission is focusing on public schools and private schools run by religious or benevolent institutions for this project, according to National Register Coordinator Evelyn Causey.

Causey said that the Alabama Historical Commission often receives calls from ordinary citizens about these schools.

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"So, we've recognized that it was a historic resource type that was very important to local communities throughout the state," she said. "And that was the reason why we wanted to get this grant was to make that process easier."

The Alabama Historical Commission has received a $50,000 grant to research and identify African American schools in Alabama.

"There's that sort of a hidden history that we're hoping to bring to light," Causey said. "And, for the people who live in the communities, that history is most definitely not hidden. But I think it's something that they want, we're hearing from them, to be documented and understood when thinking about the importance of these schools."

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She explained that many of these schools are on the State Historic Register but not many have made it to the National Register of Historic Places.

The Alabama Historical Commission will nominate one or two schools to the National Register of Historic Places through this project, according to the news release.

Causey said the selection criteria for the nominees will be decided during the project.

Jemma Stephenson is the children and education reporter for the Montgomery Advertiser. She can be reached at jstephenson@gannett.com or 334-261-1569.

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Alabama Historical Commission wants more African American schools on register