Mellon Foundation grant to back project on LGBTQ history in Alabama

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation is awarding a $600,000 grant to an Alabama non-profit that documents the history of LGBTQ people in the South. The work focuses Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi and the Florida Panhandle. The Birmingham-based Invisible Histories Project says it received the funding to expand its collections, do more work in the community and increase access and diversity, the group said in a statement. The Birmingham-based group was established in 2016. It has gathered dozens of collections in Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia and plans to expand into the Panhandle next year or in 2023. Alabama Public Radio’s national award-winning 14 month long investigation into human trafficking in the State focused on the issue of LGBTQ youth, and how these young people are especially vulnerable to being trafficked. APR’s Baillee Majors also produced a four part series on LGBTQ rights as State legislators write laws to restrict transgender youth.