Surprise: Shirley Franklin Pavilion soon will be part of downtown Atlanta 

One of the two new wings of the National Center for Civil and Human Rights (NCCHR) will be named in honor of former Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin.

The announcement of the Shirley Clark Franklin Pavilion was made Thursday evening at the annual Power to Inspire gala, a night already staged to honor the former mayor’s role in making the Center a reality.

In many ways, it was a full circle moment for Franklin — one that began during her tenure as Atlanta’s mayor from 2002 to 2010. 

Two of her signature and interrelated accomplishments were acquiring the collection of Martin Luther King Jr.’s papers — raising more than $30 million in 11 days — and realizing the dream of developing the Center for Civil and Human Rights. 

Originally, the Center was supposed to have been larger, but it had to be scaled down during the Great Recession, according to Egbert Perry, chair of NCCHR’s board since early 2024 when he succeeded Franklin, the founding chair of the Center.

“You probably have noticed that we are currently closed and under construction we are fulfilling Shirley’s original vision,” said Jill Savitt, president and CEO of the NCCHR. “Shirley Franklin was the driving force behind including contemporary human rights in our name and scope. She insisted we couldn’t build an institution solely about the past. The Center had to have a meaningful impact on people’s lives today.”

When the Center reopens in the fall, the Franklin Pavilion will be on the building’s east side, and it will provide flexible meeting space for classrooms, performances, and events. The wing’s roof will accommodate a new ticketing experience and outdoor event space.

The Center, which is currently closed while under expansion, has raised more than $53.8 million of its campaign goal.  But the Center still needs to raise another $2.8 million to meet its campaign goal. 

A surprised Franklin said it was important for Atlanta to build the Center, which celebrated its 10th anniversary last year.

“We always knew we needed the Center,” Franklin said. “We knew we needed a place to celebrate our history. We wanted it to be a place where people could have dialogue.”

Savitt told attendees that the need for dialogue connecting our civil rights history to current human rights issues is as great as ever.

“Shirley Franklin was the driving force behind including contemporary human rights in our name and scope,” she said. “She insisted we couldn’t build an institution solely about the past. The Center had to have a meaningful impact on people’s lives today.”

Because it receives no federal funding, Savitt said the Center will not be subject to new policies on how history is taught.

She then quoted from King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” written in 1963. “We must accept finite disappointment, he wrote, but never lose infinite hope,” King wrote.

“I am mindful that people might not be feeling a lot of hope at the moment,” Savitt told the hundreds of people attending the sold-out dinner at the Georgia Aquarium. “But infinite hope suggests something deeper…. Infinite hope is a refusal to surrender to despair.”

She went on to say it’s not the first time we’ve had a challenging moment in our country.

“American history has never been a straight road,” she said. “It has always been a struggle between progress and resistance, between America’s highest ideals and the forces that diminish them.”

Then Savitt thanked Franklin for the gift of infinite hope. “Because of Shirley Franklin’s vision, we have a permanent, living monument and center for dignity and justice.”

A.J. Robinson, the president of Central Atlanta Progress and a critical player in the development of the Center, invited Franklin to the stage, where he surprised her with the announcement.

Franklin credited many Atlantans for helping the Center become a reality, including the late Evelyn and Rev. Joseph Lowery, as well as former Mayor Andrew Young, among others. She then acknowledged that she was feeling the weight of current-day challenges.

“I’m troubled some days, confused some days, overwhelmed some days about what’s going on in the world,” Franklin said. “But I know in my heart of hearts that we’re going to get through this.”

On the west side, there will be a wing named the Arthur M. Blank Inspiration Hall after the philanthropist who made a lead gift for the expansion. That wing will house a café and three new galleries. It will also include:

• A Family Gallery on the lobby level for children under 12 will feature immersive, hands-on experiences to inspire interest in rights and justice for a new generation.
• A gallery that tells the history of the Reconstruction Era and its legacy, with artifacts from the “Without Sanctuary” collection.
• A Special Exhibitions Gallery for traveling and rotating exhibitions.

The Center also will improve the current building with several enhancements:

• A reimagined gallery that displays selected artifacts from the Morehouse College Martin Luther King, Jr. Collection.
• A new Activation Lab for visitors to reflect on how to tap their power to protect rights and make positive changes in their communities.
• Expansion of popular installations such as the lunch counter sit-in experience.
• Updates to the permanent civil and human rights exhibits.