Two sites significant to Houston’s Black history earned grant funding from the National Trust for Historic Preservation's African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund.
The fund allocated $3 million to 40 sites across the U.S., including Olivewood Cemetery in the Rice Military neighborhood of Houston and the Freedmen’s Town Conservancy, according to a July 15 announcement.
Olivewood Cemetery is maintained by the nonprofit organization Descendants of Olivewood. The historically African American cemetery off of Summer Street near I-10 and Studemont Street has been subjected to repeated flooding issues, the announcement from the trust states. The grant will fund a master drainage plan.
Not far south of the cemetery in Fourth Ward, the Houston Freedmen’s Town Conservancy received grant funding as well. The conservancy is dedicated to preserving the area’s origins as a neighborhood established by formerly enslaved people shortly after Juneteenth. With the grant funding, the conservancy plans to hire a manager of learning and engagement. The neighborhood was recently named the city’s first heritage district.