The city of Montgomery has received a $750,000 National Park Service grant through the Historic Preservation Fund’s African American Civil Rights program to rehabilitate and repair the historic St. Jude Hospital building.
The project will include architectural services, historic structure reports, preservation plans and physical preservation work in keeping with the secretary of the interior’s Standards and Guidelines for Archeology and Historic Preservation.
The City of St. Jude campus holds a central place in the history of the 1965 Selma-to-Montgomery voting rights march. The 54-mile march began at Brown Chapel AME Church in Selma on March 21. After four days on the route, marchers reached St. Jude on March 24. The campus served as their final campsite before the march’s last leg to the Alabama State Capitol the following day.
That night, the campus hosted the “Stars for Freedom” rally, organized by Harry Belafonte. The event brought performers and supporters to St. Jude, including Nina Simone, Joan Baez, Pete Seeger and Odetta. Thousands of marchers and supporters gathered on the campus before continuing to the Capitol, where the march concluded on March 25, 1965.
Founded in the 1930s by the Rev. Harold Purcell, a Catholic priest, the City of St. Jude campus provided health, education and social services to Black residents during segregation. St. Jude Hospital opened in 1951 as the Southeast’s first integrated hospital.
“St. Jude gave marchers shelter on the final night before they walked to the Capitol, and its history reflects the courage and determination behind the voting rights movement,” Mayor Steven L. Reed said. “This grant will help us stabilize and rehabilitate the historic hospital building and preserve an important part of that story.”
An African American Civil Rights grant from the Historic Preservation Fund supports the St. Jude Hospital Campus Rehabilitation program in part. The National Park Service, part of the U.S. Department of the Interior, administers the fund.
