Harford County awards $1 million in grant money for 8 projects preserving the county's African American history

Oct. 13—Harford County has awarded $1 million to eight recipients in the first year of its African American Heritage Grant program, which is dedicated to preserving African American history, according to a county news release.

The awards were announced by Harford County Executive Barry Glassman at a reception Wednesday at Liriodendron Mansion in Bel Air.

"The people and places that came before us helped shape Harford County," Glassman said, according to the release. "African Americans are integral to our story and this program will raise up this heritage for future generations."

Grant applications were requested in July "for projects that contribute to the research, preservation and interpretation of local African American history," the release said. The program was open to individuals, nonprofit organizations, businesses and local governments.

The applications were reviewed by the county's historic preservation commission, which made recommendations to Glassman on which ones should be funded. Funding for this program was included in the fiscal 2023 county budget approved by the County Council.

One of the grant recipients is the Harford Community College Foundation, which will receive about $11,958 to collaborate with the Harford NAACP to document the experience of African American civil rights in the county. This will help the foundation expand its work with the Harford Civil Rights Project, a website and mobile app detailing the 20th century African American civil rights experience in Harford County, which recently held its first tour of several sites.

The project is led by James Karmel, a history professor at HCC. He said the grant money will help with projects such as community listening sessions and a community oral history workshop.

"The idea is that we want people to get out into the community and do the oral history themselves," Karmel said.

Karmel said the grant program will help benefit the citizens, especially young citizens, of Harford County, by educating them on African American history and heritage, including more sensitive topics such as Jim Crow laws and school desegregation.

"An educated citizenry is always better than the other," Karmel said. "To me, being educated means some kind of historical awareness of your nation and of your community."

Vicki Jones, president of the Harford NAACP, said learning about these topics can help bring about community understanding, tolerance and patience — things that are especially needed now.

"There are certain topics that seem to divide us, and they are being politicized when they shouldn't be," Jones said. "African American history is not something that should be politicized. It is something that should be celebrated as a part of American history."

The Morning Sun

Hosanna Community House, Inc. received the largest grant — $397,427. Of that amount, $70,597 will fund an interactive experience to tell the story of the Freedmen's Bureau, which aided former slaves after the Civil War; $274,630 will fund capital improvements for the church and graveyard at the McComas Institute, which was constructed in 1867, and one of three Harford County Freedmen's Bureau schools; and $52,200 will fund capital improvements to the Hosanna School.

In addition, Havre de Grace Colored School Museum and Cultural Center, Inc. was awarded $257,500 to continue rehabilitation work at the former school building.

St. James African Methodist Episcopal Church Gravel Hill in Havre de Grace was awarded $115,000 to rehabilitate the church building and preserve its graveyard. The 173-year-old church is one of the county's oldest African American congregations.

Janice Grant was awarded $107,201 to help stabilize Aberdeen's Johns-Turner House, which the release said represents nine decades of struggle by branches of an African American family to advance in society, for its conversion into the Aberdeen Center for Black History and Culture.

The Historical Society of Harford County, Inc. was awarded $64,200 to assess its holdings that relate to African American history and to locate additional historical contributions from the community. The artifacts and archives that are found will help develop a traveling exhibition on the county's African American history.

Fairview African Methodist Episcopal Church in Forest Hill was awarded $37,130 to rehabilitate the historical church building, as well as the former Fairview School. The school building, now used as a residence, was built in 1927 and was used to educate African American children until 1945.

The Springhouse Family Farm, LLC, which owns the historic Woodview Farm, was awarded about $9,583 to hire a consultant to research Woodview's history of enslavement. The findings will later be part of a public presentation.