Tulsa Church Founded After Race Massacre Receives $200,000 Grant to Preserve Its Building

New Jerusalem Baptist Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, has received a $200,000 grant from the Preserving Black Churches program to help maintain its 70-year-old building.

The church, known locally as New J, was founded in 1957 by a pastor and a group of community members who came together after the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre destroyed the Greenwood district, also known as Black Wall Street. Urban renewal policies later pushed many Black families to north Tulsa, where the church was established.

The grant, sponsored by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, will be used to create an endowment fund. The church plans to match the $200,000 with funds it raises on its own.

Pastor Sean Jarrett said the money solves a problem that many Black churches face: having to choose between serving the community and keeping the building standing.

"Black churches throughout America, we've had to make the decision that, yes, we do for our community while our buildings lie in ruin," Jarrett told NPR. "And so we don't have to make that tough decision now."

Jarrett said the church's history is inseparable from the history of Tulsa's Black community. A highway now runs through what was once the thriving Greenwood district, cutting the neighborhood off from the rest of the city.

He also addressed the broader challenges facing Black churches today, including younger generations questioning their relationship with Christianity in the context of Christian nationalism.

"I think there is a generation that's trying to decide, I love Jesus, but I don't want that Jesus," Jarrett said. "And I think the Black church has an opportunity to re-present Jesus in such a way that Jesus is on the side of those who have been pushed against the walls."

The Preserving Black Churches program has awarded grants to churches across the country. New Jerusalem is among this year's recipients.