The Underground Railroad Education Center in Albany, New York, has taken a stand against the federal government, filing a lawsuit Friday to reclaim a $250,000 grant it says was stripped away illegally.
The legal action, lodged in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York, claims the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) violated the First and Fifth Amendments by terminating the funding based on race and viewpoint.
The museum argues that the sudden loss of funds is a direct result of the current administration’s sweeping efforts to dismantle diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. A January 2025 executive order mandated that federal agencies purge any operations supporting DEI within 60 days. Following that directive, approximately 1,400 grants were reportedly terminated in April 2025. “There is just no legitimate basis for the grant’s cancellation,” said Nina Loewenstein, an attorney representing the center. “It is just explicitly erasing things associated with the Black race.”
The 40-page brief describes a “systematic targeting” of programs designed to broaden the public’s understanding of African American history and culture. Lawyers for Good Government, a volunteer legal team handling the case, argued that the Albany center is just one of thousands of organizations caught in a broader campaign to suppress specific historical narratives.
The lawsuit alleges that “numerous statements of the current Executive Branch leadership reflect overt and coded racism supporting white supremacy and denigrating Black history in America.
The Underground Railroad Education Center is located in the former home of Stephen and Harriet Myers, legendary abolitionists who helped thousands of people escape slavery.
For founders Paul and Mary Liz Stewart, the $250,000 grant was a cornerstone for a $12 million expansion project aimed at building a new interpretive center. The current facilities have become too small to handle the center’s growing tours and community activities.
According to Mary Liz Stewart, the grant provided more than just financial support, it served as a powerful endorsement of their mission. The funding “validated who we are as an organization, what we were trying to do, and in turn sort of said to the wider world, ‘This is an organization worth paying attention to,'” she said.
The center is now asking the court to order the immediate reinstatement of the funds so they can continue their work documenting and sharing local history.
