Foundations donate $1.5M to help restore historic Black church in Memphis gutted by arson

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Several foundations have donated $1.5 million to help rebuild after arson gutted a historic Black church in Memphis, Tennessee, that played an important role in the civil rights movement.

Clayborn Temple had been undergoing a yearslong renovation when someone intentionally set a fire inside the church in the early hours of April 28, destroying almost everything but parts of the facade.

Before the fire, the Romanesque revival church was in the midst of a $25 million restoration project that included restoring a 3,000-pipe grand organ. The project also sought to help revitalize the neighborhood with a museum, cultural programing and community outreach.

Despite the extensive damage, Anasa Troutman, executive director of Historic Clayborn Temple, has said they plan to continue moving forward with the restoration. Troutman announced the new donations for that effort Wednesday. The money comes from the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund along with the Mellon and Ford foundations.

Located just south of the iconic Beale Street, Clayborn Temple was built in 1892 as the Second Presbyterian Church and originally served an all-white congregation. In 1949, the building was sold to an African Methodist Episcopal congregation and given its current name. In 1968, the church served as the headquarters for a sanitation workers’ strike, which brought the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. to Memphis, where he was assassinated.