BATON ROUGE, La. (WGNO) — A grant through the National Parks Service will help complete the design and installation of several Louisiana Civil Rights Trail markers.
On Thursday, the Louisiana Office of Tourism announced it had received $50,000 from the NPS to help uncover and preserve once-hidden facets of our nation’s history.
The competitive grant is funded through the African American Civil Rights Grant Program from the Nation Parks Service’s Historic Preservation Fund.
The first four trail markers installed throughout the state are:
- Dooky Chase’s Restaurant — New Orleans
- The Old State Capitol and A.Z. Young Park — Baton Rouge
- Little Union Baptist Church — Shreveport
More markers and installation dates will be announced in the future as the Office of Tourism obtains property permissions.
Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser commented on the grant funding, saying:
“We have spent the better part of three years developing the Louisiana Civil Rights Trail. The Louisiana Office of Tourism began research on the Louisiana Civil Rights Movement in January 2019. We held 22 meetings across the state with stakeholders, historians, citizens, and tourism representatives to gather information on Civil Rights events and history. A group of university scholars, who are subject matter experts in African American studies, vetted and reviewed each nomination. From the nominations submitted, a website was created as a first step and now we are placing markers at locations where events and activities of national importance occurred.”
For more information about the trail, or to nominate a historic site, person, or activity for inclusion, visit LouisianaCivilRightsTrail.com.
