The Greensboro-based Civil Rights Museum is among two North Carolina institutions receiving a grant from the National Park Service. The funds are given to organizations that honor the African American experience, and the grant is part of more than $7.5 million awarded to projects and sites around the country.
John Swaine with the International Civil Rights Center & Museum says the $50,000-dollar award will support a new project focused on the 14th Amendment, which addressed citizen rights and "equal protection of the laws."
“We've long recognized that it is one of the most important amendments in the U.S. Constitution," he says, "and there's no way that the Greensboro Four could have sat down at that lunch counter if it weren't for the 14th amendment.”
The work will be complete by July 2018 which marks the 150th anniversary of the amendment's ratification.
Another North Carolina organization received part of the federal grant. The Pauli Murray Family Center for History and Social Justice in Durham will use its funding for interior restoration and preservation.