> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://hyperallergic.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# National Endowment for the Humanities Allocated $120K to Restore and Build Monuments
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/neh-build-restore-monuments-grants/
- Published: 2020-11-04T20:16:49.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T15:51:34.000Z
- Description: One grant will fund the restoration of a Christopher Columbus statue rolled into the harbor by protesters; another will fund the creation of a Frederick Douglass monument.
- Author: Hakim Bishara
- Tags: News, George Floyd protests, National Endowment for the Humanities, NEH, Washington DC, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-24 09:08 (2019, 2020, part 3)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/37237558850_d76ca1d95b_k.jpg)

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has allocated $120,000 to repair and restore public statues that have been damaged or vandalized, and create new ones in an effort to “revitalize public interest in American history in advance of the nation’s 250th anniversary in 2026.”

The initiative seeks to restore controversial monuments like a [Christopher Columbus statue in Baltimore, Maryland](https://www.baltimoresun.com/maryland/baltimore-city/bs-md-ci-columbus-statue-20200705-xc4bhthfhjaflifz72org2lrhy-story.html?ref=hyperallergic.com), which protesters rolled into a harbor in July in protest of his violent history. Conversely, it supports erecting a new monument for abolitionist Frederick Douglass in Rochester, New York.

These two projects were each awarded an “NEH Chairman’s Grant” of $30,000\. An equal sum was allocated for the restoration of [two damaged statues](https://www.channel3000.com/protesters-explain-why-they-tore-down-statues-at-state-capitol/?ref=hyperallergic.com) at the Wisconsin State Capitol: one of Hans Christian Heg, a Norwegian immigrant and abolitionist who helped enslaved people escape before serving as a colonel for the Union army in the Civil War; and the statue “Forward,” commemorating women’s suffrage. 

Shortly after the defacement of these two Wisconsin monuments in June, President Donald Trump signed an [executive order](https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/executive-order-protecting-american-monuments-memorials-statues-combating-recent-criminal-violence/?ref=hyperallergic.com) to prosecute and punish protesters who damage federal monuments. The command reinforces existing federal law, including the [Veterans’ Memorials Preservation and Recognition Act](https://www.congress.gov/108/plaws/publ29/PLAW-108publ29.pdf?ref=hyperallergic.com) of 2003, which imposes a fine and up to 10 years in prison on anyone who damages or destroys a federal monument.

A fourth and final NEH grant of $30,000 was awarded to the Bronx Community College (BCC) in New York. The funds will support the digitization of archival photographs and materials documenting the [Hall of Fame for Great Americans](http://www.bcc.cuny.edu/about-bcc/history-architecture/hall-of-fame/?ref=hyperallergic.com), featuring 98 busts of historical figures in American history in an open-air colonnade on the BCC campus.

“We cannot expect our youth to know about our history if we don’t provide them with educational materials — whether it’s films, books, or statues — to tell them about our history,” said NEH Chairman Jon Parrish Peede in a [statement](https://www.neh.gov/news/neh-awards-120000-repair-and-restore-historical-american-statues?ref=hyperallergic.com) on October 30\. “NEH is pleased to provide funding to help highlight the accomplishments of the many individuals who helped build and shape our exceptional country.”