About The South Carolina Preservation Toolkit and WeGoja Foundation
About Us
Origins
The South Carolina Preservation Toolkit is a one-stop shop of resources, tools, information, and community building for African American historic preservation throughout the state. The Toolkit was created by the WeGOJA Foundation with grant-funded support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. It is specifically designed to bolster African American historic preservation in the state, equip local communities to preserve their history, and increase accessibility and engagement with Black history
Our Why
- We saw the need for one comprehensive statewide resource for preserving and protecting African American heritage, culture, people and places.
- We saw a gap in access to historic preservation between African American communities and white communities in SC
- We know there is a severe lack of preserved historic Black spaces and places
- We acknowledge and recognize that historic preservation as a field was not created for Black spaces or people
- We see a world where the tools of historic preservation that have historically been used to oppress, compromise, gentrify, and develop our communities are used to save, protect, preserve and honor our history.
Our Goals
Decrease barriers
Our Team
The Preservation Toolkit project is a statewide program and mission is led by preservationists, activists and advocates from across the state with the goal to decrease barriers, make preservation accessible and empower and equip local communities.
Our Partner
This movement would not have been possible without the leadership, partnership and investment from The Andrew W Mellon Foundation. The foundation believes that the arts and humanities are where we express our complex humanity, and they believe that everyone deserves the beauty, transcendence, and freedom to be found there. Through their grants, they seek to build just communities enriched by meaning and empowered by critical thinking, where ideas and imagination can thrive.
In 2023, the foundation invested $750,000 in the WeGoja Foundation to build the nation’s first of it’s kind statewide preservation toolkit, under the auspices of their “Humanities in Place” grant making area with a strategic focus on promoting greater engagement and understanding.
About The WeGOJA Foundation
WeGOJA Foundation works to identify, document, and promote African American history in South Carolina. We seek to tell the full story of African American heritage in the state.
The name WeGOJA (pronounced we-GO-juh) is a fusion of words from three languages – Gullah, Wolof, and Yoruba. Their speakers were people of African descent who were unwilling immigrants, brought to the Americas enslaved as a result of the Atlantic Slave Trade. They became major contributors to the growth, development, maintenance and success of the Carolina colony, later South Carolina. Our name means Pride, Future, Courage, Purpose, and Culture.
Our Work
Our mission is to support efforts to identify and promote the preservation of historic sites, structures, buildings, and culture of the African American experience in South Carolina. Historic places help us make meaningful connections with our history. Here are three of our most important initiatives.
Gullah Geechee Seafood Trail
