Amistad Center in New Orleans faces severe federal cuts. Its mission now: 'Save Black History'

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Amistad Center in New Orleans faces severe federal cuts. Its mission now: 'Save Black History'​

Kathe Hambrick, Lisa Moore

06/20/25

One of the nation’s oldest and most significant archives of Black history, the Amistad Research Center in New Orleans has collected and cared for millions of historical documents and artifacts over the past six decades.
Now that work is at risk after federal funding cuts wiped out 40% of the organization’s $1.5 million budget, according to executive director Kathe Hambrick. Last week, the center was forced to lay off about half of its 14 staff members.

The cuts stem from the Trump administration’s gutting of the Institute of Museum and Library Sciences, a federal agency that awards grants to libraries and museums across the country. The agency did not say why Amistad’s grants were terminated, but the cuts are in line with President Donald Trump’s efforts to end programs that promote diversity or prioritize the experiences of minority groups.
The loss will make the Amistad’s work less accessible to the public as the remaining skeleton crew juggles conservation work, assisting researchers and ongoing projects to sort and digitize its collections.
“There’s projects we were in the midst of that we won’t be able to finish,” said Brenda Flora, curator of moving images and recorded sound for the archive. “There’s projects we have been promised money for that was withdrawn that we won’t be able to start.”
One lost grant would have paid for the conversion of decades-old video and audio tapes of interviews with community members in Mound Bayou, a Mississippi town founded by formerly enslaved people in the 1880s. For now, the 130 hours of interviews donated by documentary filmmaker Brad Lichtenstein will sit in boxes untouched.

Federal courts have ordered the government to restore some of the grant funding, but the future of federal funding for museums remains uncertain.
In the meantime, Hambrick and her remaining staff have taken matters into their own hands, launching a $1 million campaign in March to raise money for the center and “Save Black History.”

SAVE BLACK HISTORY

www.saveblackhistory.org

“This isn’t just about survival,” Hambrick said. “It’s about reimagining how we share and safeguard Black history with the next generation.”

Federal spending cuts​

The Amistad Research Center is an independent, community-based archive focused on Black history, the African Diaspora and the Civil Rights Movement, as well as other minority groups. It houses a wide range of records and art in its space on Tulane University’s campus.

The collection includes art by Jacob Lawrence, personal papers of Frank Smith Horne — influential Harlem Renaissance figure and the uncle of singer and civil rights activist Lena Horne — and New Orleans poet Tom Dent, as well as old yearbooks from New Orleans high schools. They also have historical documents related to the slave ship Amistad, the archive’s namesake. A group of Africans who had been kidnapped from Sierra Leone to be sold into slavery overthrew the Amistad's captain and crew. The ship was ultimately recaptured, but the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Africans were taken illegally and were free to return home.

 

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Hambrick has been bracing for blows to her organization since January. Amid “confusion and anguish” this spring, she launched the “Save Black History” campaign inspired by the partnership between educator Booker T. Washington and philanthropist Julius Rosenwald, who joined forces in the 1910s to start a network of 5,000 schools that taught Black students in the segregated South.

“We are at risk,” Hambrick wrote in a March 1 letter that was posted to Amistad’s website. “We now turn to you, our friends and allies, to help us secure the future of Black history. "

Not long after, the cuts began. In April, Amistad received a letter from Keith Sonderling, acting executive director of the IMLS, saying that several grants were being terminated immediately.

After that order, all 70 employees of the IMLS were put on leave. The IMLS did not immediately respond to inquiries.
“There’s an Amistad in every parish," said Miranda Restovic, president and executive director of the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities. Federal cuts have created a ripple effect through the “whole cultural infrastructure,” she said, forcing the state agency to cancel some grant cycles for 2025 and reduce staff, both hopefully short-term solutions.

“These are very important cultural institutions that are housing our state’s history...,” she said. “If we don’t care about our history, what do we care about?"

'Our roots are strong'​

Standing in the archive offices earlier this week, Hambrick gestured at her remaining team.
“This is who’s pretty much left,” Hambrick said. “This is boots-on-the-ground to preserve this history.”
The staff lost two research archivists who answered calls and located documents for visitors to the archive and four processing archivists, as well as a metadata specialist who was working on sorting and digitizing the collection from the American Missionary Association.

A smaller staff will slow the intake of new materials and throw a wrench in efforts to digitize and publish materials. The archivists — whom Hambrick refers to as her scientists — work daily to prevent historical documents and works of art from falling prey to mold, bugs and humidity. They store them in acid-free folders and boxes and monitor their condition daily.

“The reality is we will eventually have to slow down the processing on the preservation, and we may not fulfill grant obligations we currently have because we have such a small staff,” said Felicia Render, curator of manuscripts.

“Anything that comes in is just going to have to sit until we can get to it,” Flora added.
The staff will also have less time to cull exhibits for visiting student groups.
“We put out these primary source documents, original documents, so the students can see and understand the importance of seeing history on paper, history through art,” Hambrick said, “as opposed to just going on TikTok.”
Still, Hambrick is undeterred in her mission to preserve and publicize history. The organization raised $20,000 in just 45 days.

“Our roots are strong, our community is engaged, and, with collective support, Amistad will not only endure,” she said, “we will thrive.”

 

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