The Executive Orders Project - DEI: Fredericksburg Area Museum Fears Effects of Potential Grant Funding Freeze
Juneteenth programming is in limbo
By Adele Uphaus
MANAGING EDITOR AND CORRESPONDENT
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The Fredericksburg Area Museum’s ability to host Juneteenth celebrations in historic market square and recoup funding spent on developing the upcoming exhibit “Living Legacies: African American History in the Fredericksburg Area” is in limbo as a result of recent presidential actions targeting diversity initiatives.
“Living Legacies” is set to open in May of this year and it represents a major step in a commitment made by City Council in 2019 to tell a more complete story of local history, following years of community conversations about the auction block that stood for many years at the corner of Charles and William streets in downtown Fredericksburg.
Gaila Sims, FAM’s vice president for programs and curator of African American history, said the museum received a grant from the National Endowment for Humanities several years ago to support initial work on “Living Legacies.”
“In the last couple of years, we have been trying really hard to get exhibitions and some programming funded by grants, so the other funding we have [which comes from the City of Fredericksburg and private donations] goes towards operations, salaries, and things like that,” Sims said.
NEH grant funding isn’t provided up front but is released after earmarked funds are spent, Sims said.
“We still have some funds that we haven’t received from that grant we got before … and I don’t know now if they will release that money,” she said.
FAM was also supposed to hear from the NEH last week about a grant Sims applied for to support Juneteenth programming in historic Market Square this summer.
Juneteenth commemorates the final enforcement of the Emancipation Proclamation in Texas on June 19, 1865. It became a federal holiday in 2021. Last summer, Sims said, FAM partnered with local civil rights advocate Eunice Haigler to put on “a really lovely Juneteenth program” on a “shoestring” budget, using volunteer time.
“What we wanted to do this year was have money so we could pay everybody, and have a bigger celebration,” Sims said. “But now, we’re in this limbo where we don’t know if that grant even exists anymore. And we have all these plans that we set in motion because we were feeling pretty good about the grant.”
Sims said that since arriving in Fredericksburg in 2021, she has worked to build trust with diverse communities to ensure that the city can fulfill its commitment to telling the full story.
“I have gotten to share so many stories that some people knew, but a lot of people didn’t,” Sims said. “There is nothing more rewarding to me personally and to a museum than to be able to share stories that bring joy and pride to people, especially people who haven’t always been prioritized when we’re thinking about history and museums. So not being able to do that would be hard for me, the museum, and our community.”
Sims said she is still committed to doing the work of seeking out and elevating diverse voices.
“This work is my whole being, as many people in this area know, so I’m going to do it no matter what,” she said. “I hope everyone in the community knows that.”
She’ll just have to do the work while “[keeping] an eye on what’s going on up the street in D.C.,” Sims said.
This story has been edited to correct the year of City Council’s commitment to telling a more inclusive history.
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So, the City Council agreed to all of this local happening and then it became a thing for ALL Americans to foot the bill for. Why should all Americans pay for local Fredericksburg events and museums with their tax dollars?