Diversity, Inclusion, and Racial Justice
Issue Brief
Not intended as a comprehensive study, this Issue Brief is designed to build mutual understanding of the topic, spark conversation, and inspire action at the local and state levels.
Case Studies
Coming soon: Brief examples of work in the field, with tips, lessons learned, and contacts.
In the meantime, visit the National Trust’s Case Study Explorer to see its growing collection of examples — and add your own!
Learn More
Far from comprehensive, this list offers some external resources to learn more about the issue. If you have suggestions for others (or find a broken link), please let us know.
Reports/Books/Articles
The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America (2017). Book by Richard Rothstein.
Building a Foundation for Action: Anti-Racist Historic Preservation Resources. Initiated by Erica Avrami and Anna Gasha. A collective, collaborative resource list to further anti-racism efforts in the field of historic preservation.
National Park Service Publications on Diverse and Inclusive History
Place, Race, and Story: Essays on the Past and Future of Historic Preservation (2009). Book by Ned Kaufman.
Preservation and Social Inclusion, Issues in Preservation Policy (2020). Erica Avrami (Editor).
Preserving African American Places: Growing Preservation’s Potential as a Path for Equity (2020). Report by the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund.
Organizations/Programs
Funding Sources
The National Trust’s African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund supports capital projects, organizational capacity building, project planning, and programming and interpretation.
Underrepresented Community Grants from the National Park Service aim to diversify listings in the National Register of Historic Places. Grants support surveys, inventories, and nominations.
History of Equal Rights Grants from the National Park Service fund physical preservation work and pre-preservation planning activities for sites listed in, or determined eligible for, the National Register of Historic Places, as well as National Historic Landmarks.
African American Civil Rights Grants from the National Park Service fund a broad range of planning, development, and research projects for historic sites including: surveys, inventories, documentation, interpretation, education, architectural services, historic structure reports, preservation plans, and "bricks and mortar" repair.
Partners in Documentation Grants from the National Preservation Education Foundation are intended to expand student training opportunities in recording historic structures and landscapes. Grant round typically opens annually in the Fall.
Also see the Funding page for general preservation funding opportunities.
If you know of other funding opportunities specific to this issue, please let us know!
Share
Do you have a best practice, case study, example, tool, or other resource that might help others? Please email it to Jim Lindberg or Rebecca Harris at jlindberg@savingplaces.org or rharris@prespartners.org. Thank you!
Top Photo: Mural honoring Mexican history on the Casa Aztlan community center in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood. Credit: Vincent Michael
Case Studies Photo: Some 60 different matachines from South Texas and north Mexico perform dances in 2017 during the Feast of the Immaculate Conception at Mission Concepcion (1755) in San Antonio, TX. Credit: Vincent Michael