In a significant push to preserve African American history and culture, the National Trust for Historic Preservation is doling out a sweet $4 million to safeguard the futures of 31 historic Black churches across the U.S., as reported by the National Trust. Each church serves as critical links to the rich tapestry of American resilience and is getting a much-needed financial boost to patch up everything from leaky roofs to crumbling foundations.

In Houston, the venerable Antioch Missionary Baptist Church, a beacon since 1886, is one of the lucky ones, snagging a $180,000 capital grant to restore its damaged stained-glass windows, a casualty of Hurricane Ike's wrath back in 2008, the Houston Chronicle has detailed. The church's place in history is set in stone; it was built on the backs of nine formerly enslaved people and shepherded by the esteemed Jack Yates.

The Preserving Black Churches program isn't just throwing money at these historic sites, but it's offering a lifeline to ensure that they can keep enriching lives through community service, social justice, and more, and it’s only possible thanks to a hefty $20 million seed money from the Lilly Endowment, as Brent Leggs, Executive Director of the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund, put it, "We couldn’t be more excited to honor our second round of grantees and ensure that African Americans – and our entire nation – can enjoy an empowered future built on the inspiring foundations of our past," a sentiment shared by the distinguished historian Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. via the National Trust, who underscored the Black churches' indispensable role in democratic reform, painting them as the living embodiments of our ancestors' undying grit.