ATLANTA — A national nonprofit is giving more than $650,000 in grants to help five historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) to help preserve their campuses.
The National Trust for Historic Preservation this week announced the grants through its HBCU Cultural Heritage Stewardship Initiative.
The Washington-based trust aims to help the institutions develop campus preservation plans.
The grants are going to Florida A&M University in Tallahassee, Florida; Rust College in Holly Springs, Mississippi; Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, North Carolina; Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina; and Voorhees College in Denmark, South Carolina.
Modeled after the Tuskegee Institute of Alabama, Voorhees College was founded in 1897 as Denmark Industrial School for African Americans. In 1902, philanthropist Ralph Voorhees donated money to buy land and construct buildings, and the school was renamed in his honor in 1904 by the South Carolina General Assembly.
Voorhees College became affiliated with the Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina in 1924 and, after additional departments and a four-year curriculum, became accredited in 1962.
In 1982, thirteen of the buildings on Voorhees' campus constructed by students in the College's crafts program between 1905 to 1935 were placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
