National Park Service awards grants to African American history projects in Michigan

The National Park Service on Tuesday awarded $23.4 million to projects preserving civil rights history, including a survey on historic African American tourism in Michigan.

One of the awarded projects will survey sites listed in "The Negro Motorists' Green Book," an annual travel guide by Victor Hugo Green published between 1936 and 1964. African Americans referenced the book to travel safely on U.S. Route 66 while segregation laws and extrajudicial violence prevailed.

Listed as led by the Michigan Strategic Fund, the project will survey gas stations, rooming houses and resorts to commemorate African American experiences along the famous highway, which spans from Chicago to Los Angeles.

Various versions of the Green Book included Michigan locations such as Detroit, Ann Arbor, Woodlawn Park, Inkster, Idlewild and Covert.

The Green Book listed hotels, homes, restaurants and stores welcoming Black patrons in Michigan, as displayed in a 2023 exhibit at Detroit's Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History.

Most Michigan locations listed in the book no longer exist, including buildings in Detroit, Jennifer Evans, Wright museum exhibition manager, told The News in July.

The survey report will also detail context on African American recreational tourism in Michigan, according to a fiscal year 2023 grant synopsis posted on the NPS website.

Eastern Michigan University also is slated to receive $75,000 in grant funds to survey history resources on Detroit's east side, including the role of fair housing resources, community activism and religion in civil rights history in the city, according to the grant synopsis.

EMU will draw on Geographic Information Systems, or digital tools to interpret geographic data, and public engagement to share information on the project, the NSP grant synopsis said.

The NPS award funds will be distributed to 39 projects across 16 states and the District of Columbia as part of its Historic Preservation Fund's African American Civil Rights grant program, according to a release Tuesday.

NPS has long supported preservation efforts related to African American civil rights history, Chuck Sams, the agency's director, said in the release.

“Since 2016, the National Park Service has provided over $126 million through this program to document, preserve, and recognize the places and stories associated with the struggle for civil rights of African Americans,” he said.