The Willow Hill Heritage and Renaissance Center announced Friday it had received a $750,000 grant from the National Park Service to support preservation and restoration of the historic Willow Hill School in Portal. "This $750,000 grant is a tremendous investment in preserving an important part of our shared history," said Dr. Alvin D. Jackson, president of the Willow Hill Heritage and Renaissance Center, in an email release from Willow Hill. "Our ancestors emerged from slavery with very few resources, yet they understood that education was the key to a better future. They established schools, built communities, and created opportunities for generations that followed. Over time, Willow Hill evolved from a school established to educate African American children into an integrated institution that served students of all races. We have a responsibility to preserve that extraordinary legacy." The award, Willow Hill’s largest ever, represents a milestone in the Center's ongoing efforts to preserve one of the area’s historic educational landmarks. Roughly a decade after the abolition of slavery, formerly enslaved residents of the Willow Hill area near Portal established the school for their children. The core families included the Donaldsons, the Riggs, the Halls and the Parishes. These “families, post-slavery, they became landowners and owned up to six thousand acres of land in the Willow Hill community,” Jackson said. “They founded the Willow Hill school in 1874 as one of the…
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