Historic Black Church in Alexandria Receives $360K Grant to Preserve Legacy
Shiloh Baptist Church in Alexandria, Virginia, founded in 1863 by formerly enslaved African Americans, received a $360,000 grant from the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund Preserving Black Churches program to enhance its worship space and preserve its structural integrity.
Shiloh Baptist Church, a historically Black church in Alexandria, Virginia, has been awarded $360,000 as part of a $13.5 million commitment from the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund Preserving Black Churches program, benefiting 33 churches nationwide.
Dr. Taft Quincey Heatley, Senior Pastor of Shiloh Baptist Church, stated the grant will enhance the worship space and preserve the structure, addressing critical issues like rotting floor joists. The church, founded in 1863, is located near the Freedom House Museum, a site that operated as a slave complex from 1828 to 1861.
Shiloh Baptist Church was founded by formerly enslaved African Americans on the site of a Civil War-era contraband camp for escaped enslaved people. Pastor Heatley emphasized its symbolic role in the community: It really is a symbol within the community... People actually met Christ here.
As America marks its 250th anniversary, the Action Fund program underscores Black churches contributions to social justice movements and democratic leadership. You are talking about communities... Life stories, generations that have come through, and people that have their identity attached to a place where they met God, Heatley added.
Other churches in the D.C., Maryland, and Virginia areas received grants, including Mt. Moriah AME Church in Annapolis, Maryland, which received $100,000 to support its Sacred Spaces Arts and Residency program. Founded in 1874 by free African Americans, Mt. Moriah houses the Banneker-Douglas-Tubman Museum.
