The Balanta Heritage Corridor Project

The Balanta Heritage Corridor Project

 

What iS a national heritage area?

National Heritage Areas (NHAs) are designated by Congress as places where natural, cultural, and historic resources combine to form a cohesive, nationally important landscape. Through their resources, NHAs tell nationally important stories that celebrate our nation’s diverse heritage. NHAs are lived-in landscapes. Consequently, NHA entities collaborate with communities to determine how to make heritage relevant to local interests and needs.

NHAs are a grassroots, community-driven approach to heritage conservation and economic development. Through public-private partnerships, NHA entities support historic preservation, natural resource conservation, recreation, heritage tourism, and educational projects. Leveraging funds and long-term support for projects, NHA partnerships foster pride of place and an enduring stewardship ethic.

Fifty-five NHAs have been designated by Congress since 1984. Each NHA is created through individual federal law.

  • NHA designation recognizes the national importance of a region’s sites and history.

  • Through annual Congressional appropriations, NPS passes funds to NHA entities. Although most entities are authorized to receive up to $1 millon annually over a set period of time, actual annual appropriations range from $150,000 – $750,000.

 
 

THE BALANTA HERITAGE CORRIDOR PROJECT

The Balanta Heritage Corridor Project (BHCP), working in conjunction with the House of Ancestry, aims to establish a national heritage area that runs from the Gulf Coast, through Charleston, SC, Chesapeake, VA to New York, NY where 22,300 people were known to have been taken from the areas were Balanta people were living from 1668 to 1843 during the Trans Atlantic slave trade.

Utilizing the scattered membership of the Balanta B’urassa History & Genealogy Society in America, the BHCP will conduct it research, gather the documents and artifacts, identify the historic locations, and work with local groups and officials to establish the heritage corridor and attract the badly needed resources to those areas.