A Civil Rights Museum?

[ironchapman]

It seems that the city has been thinking about the possiblitity of building a museum honoring the civil rights movement. they decisionmakers have been pondering if this is something that people will actually take interest in or if it will be a project that looks great on paper, but flops in the end.

Check out the AJC article

It's a very interesting idea. I like the sound of it. It seems like a good way to honor Atlnta's importance in the movement even more.

But the question is, will the people be interested in it?

[StevenRocks]

It's a project that has legs. With the King Center already in town, a civil-rights museum would be a natural extension and would definately help with both tourism and understanding of the history of the movement.

[krazeeboi]

It would be great if a potential civil rights museum could be located on Auburn Ave. as it would complement the King Center and the Apex Museum perfectly; however, the article said that there probably isn't enough land on Auburn to build one. I think the support of this potential project will depend on how the city plans on funding it.

[johnatl]

I've thought for a long time that this is a no-brainer for us. We ARE the birthplace of the Civil Rights Movement, afterall. Think of all the living legacies we actually have right here. If done right - and on a grand enought scale, this could be as big as the Aquarium IMO.

I also think we are a natural for a Smithsonian-grade Museum of Transportation.

[EbonyGardens]

^Ditto. Atlanta has a lot of black landmarks. It's even called the black corporate mecca of the US, due to the high percentage of successful, educated blacks that reside there.

[UrbanSoutherner]

A civil rights museum in Atlanta is a "no brainer" so to speak. If a city that is neither on the ocean nor a navigatable river can build an aquarium of all things (probably the most "out-of-place" aquarium in the country if not the world in that sense), then surely it can build a musem to honor something that is actually strongly associated with the city. As mentioned before, it would naturally tie in with the National Park Service site for King as well as the Carter Center. With the redevelopment of Auburn Avenue coming along, now is the time to get this together.