Construction fencing surrounds the perimeter of the National Center for Civil and Human Rights to make way for the $56 million, 24,000-square-foot expansion of the living museum.
It is a pivotal moment for the Center.
Former Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin, who has served as the Center’s board chair for most of its existence, has stepped down from that role and is handing the reigns to Egbert Perry, CEO of the Integral Group who has been on the board since the Center’s inception.
“Hallelujah!” Franklin laughed during an interview on March 8 at the Center.
Perry chimed in: “If she’s this excited, should I be depressed?”
In all seriousness, Perry and Franklin shared their excitement for the Center’s next chapter and how it will expand its role as a place to shine the light on democracy, human rights and conflict resolution — all from its home base in Atlanta.
“It has authenticity,” Perry added. “No one has permission to do that more than Atlanta.”
The Center opened in June 2014 after nearly a decade of planning with delays and slow fundraising caused by the Great Recession. As a result, plans for the Center had to be scaled back, but leaders always wanted to fully build out the Center that was initially envisioned.
Shortly after Jill Savitt became the Center’s president and CEO on March 11, 2019, expanding the Center became a priority. The COVID pandemic and the economic downturn didn’t help.
“We had a collective dream to build an institution that spoke to Atlanta’s history,” said A.J. Robinson, president of Central Atlanta Progress and vice chair of the Center. “Our timing has never been good, but we have raised $52 million [for the expansion.] I think we are gaining momentum to be what we always wanted the Center to be.”
The expansion will feature a three-story West Wing with a café and three new galleries — a Family Gallery for children under 12, a gallery that will tell the story of the Reconstruction Era and a Special Exhibitions Gallery for traveling and rotating exhibitions.
A one-story East Wing will feature flexible meeting space for classrooms, performances, training programs and events. The East Wing’s roof will provide a new ticketing experience and an outdoor event space.
The Center will remain open throughout 2024, but it will close next January until its reopening in September 2025. During the temporary closure, the Center will host community events throughout metro Atlanta, and it will convene gatherings at local coffee shops, restaurants and performance venues.
Other enhancements will include a reimagining the gallery that displays the Martin Luther King Jr. collection and moving it up to the main floor. A new Activation Lab will give visitors opportunities to reflect and tap their power to protect rights and strengthen their own communities. Also, the popular lunch counter sit-in experience will be expanded.
Savitt said the Center is continuing its efforts to raise the $4 million needed for the expansion. “We have secured a bridge loan,” she said. “But we don’t want to take on debt.”
The Center, first imagined 20 years ago, will celebrate its 10th anniversary in June, when the expansion will be fully underway. For Franklin, the expansion means much more than bricks and mortar.
“This is what Atlanta does,” the former mayor said. “We have big dreams, and we execute them.”
Still, Franklin said the Center is in its infancy.
“We are building an institution,” she said. “You don’t do that in a few years. We are in the early stages. We are stable. We are open. But we are nowhere near where we will be.”
Then, looking to Perry, she said new leadership will help strengthen the organization.
“I’m flattered that I’m being viewed as fresh, new leadership,” Perry said. “It is Shirley’s leadership that helped give us birth. She gave it a way to come to life.”
Perry added that he views the Center as a critical civic asset. “As long as man cares about humanity, it’s a reason for the Center to have generations of life,” he said. “It’s static and dynamic. It has ongoing life and relevance because of human rights issues around the world.”
For Perry, the stories told at the Center have a direct bearing on his life. He was born in Antigua, and he emigrated to the United States to get an education.
“In 1964, the Civil Rights Act gave rise to the 1965 Immigration Act,” he said. “I’m here because of the Civil Rights movement, which gave life to the Immigration Act.”
For Perry, the global relevance of the Center is as important as its local significance. When he moved to Atlanta in 1980, the region’s population was just a fraction of what it is today.
“Many of the people who moved here don’t really know why they came to Atlanta. They don’t really know the ‘Why Atlanta?’” Perry said. “It is a special place where people figured out how to do things. The Center provides understanding and appreciation for that. It has the potential to be a true civic asset, not just for Atlanta, but beyond.”
As an example, the Center’s annual fundraiser — the Power to Inspire — will celebrate the 70th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education with a theatrical stage play, Courageous Steps, on April 17 for a one-night performance at The Eastern.
The exhibit curators for NCCHR’s expansion are Ejim Dike and Liba Beyer. Dike, former U.S. Human Rights Network executive director, is focusing on the museum’s new gallery on Reconstruction and refreshing its permanent civil rights exhibits, including the King Collection gallery. Beyer, a global human rights advocate who spent 20 years at Human Rights Watch, is curating the new Family Gallery and updating the permanent human rights gallery.
The Center expansion’s design and construction teams include:
- Atelier Brueckner — a global design firm based in Stuttgart, Germany, oversees exhibition design.
- DaVinci Development Collaborative — an Atlanta-based boutique firm is the overall project developer manager.
- Juneau Construction Company — based in Atlanta, the woman-owned company directs building construction.
- Perkins&Will – the national firm headquartered in Chicago, oversees the design of the expanded building and campus.
- Solomon Group — the New Orleans-based national experiential production company leads exhibit fabrication.
Once the expansion is complete, the real estate around the Center will make it difficult to physically expand at that location. But Savitt said the Center’s work will continue to reach new audiences. For example, the Center is leading an effort with the City of Atlanta and a group of community partners to create a memorial at the Chattahoochee Brick site. It also will have the ability to host traveling exhibits and share its materials with other museums.
During the early days when the Center was being envisioned, Franklin acknowledged there was tension in the community about how the civil rights story would be told. Now, those concerns largely have been erased.
“We tell the stories here in a way that doesn’t get people’s backs up,” Savitt said.
“Fortunately, the way the Center was designed, it’s clear that the civil rights movement in the South is a baseline of understanding,” Franklin said. “It’s a place that defines how we got along. It acknowledges the history of the city.”
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