International Civil Rights Center and Museum
Museum Logo
|
|
Established | 2010 |
---|---|
Location | 134 S. Elm Street Greensboro, North Carolina, 27401 USA 336.274.9199 |
Coordinates | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. |
Type | Civil Rights |
Visitors | 0 |
Director | Bamidele Demerson |
Website | SitInMovement.org |
The International Civil Rights Center & Museum (ICRCM) is in Greensboro, North Carolina. Its building formerly housed the Woolworth's, the site of a non-violent protest in the U.S. civil rights movement. Four students from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (NC A&T) started the Greensboro sit-ins at a "whites only" lunch counter on February 1, 1960. The four students were Franklin McCain; Joseph McNeil; Ezell Blair, Jr. (now Jibreel Khazan); and David Richmond. The next day there were twenty. The aim of the museum's founders is to ensure that history remembers the actions of the Greensboro Four, those who joined them in the daily Woolworth's sit-ins, and others around the country who took part in sit-ins and in the American civil rights movement. The project received substantial donations from the state, city, and county as well as private donors. The museum opened fifty years to the day after the sit-ins.
Contents
History of civil rights
In 1993, the Woolworth's downtown Greensboro store, which had been open since 1939, closed and the company announced plans to tear down the building. Greensboro radio station 102 JAMZ, (WJMH), began a petition drive to save the location. Morning radio personality Dr. Michael Lynn broadcast in front of the closed store day and night to save the historic building. Eighteen thousand signatures were gathered on a petition. Rev. Jesse Jackson, Jr. visited the location, endorsed the effort, and joined the live broadcast. After three days, the F.W. Woolworth company announced an agreement to maintain the location while financing could be arranged to buy the store.
County Commissioner Melvin "Skip" Alston and City Councilman Earl Jones proposed buying the site and turning it into a museum. The two founded Sit-in Movement, Inc., a nonprofit organization dedicated to realizing this dream. The group succeeded in purchasing the property and renovating it.[1]
In 2001, Sit-in Movement Inc. and NC A&T announced a partnership to facilitate the museum's becoming a reality.[2]
Financial difficulties
The museum project suffered financial difficulties for a number of years,[3] despite millions of dollars in donations. These included more than $1 million from the State of North Carolina, a contribution from the Bryan Foundation, more than $200,000 each from the City of Greensboro and Guilford County,[4] and $148,152 from the U.S. Department of Interior through the National Park Service Agency's Save America's Treasures program in 2005.[5]
In fall 2007, Sit-in Movement, Inc. requested an additional $1.5 million from the City of Greensboro, a request that was rejected.[6] Greensboro residents twice voted down bond referenda to provide money for the project.
Fundraising and opening
As the 50th anniversary of the sit-ins grew closer, efforts increased to complete the project. Over $9 million in donations and grants were raised. In addition, the museum qualified for historic preservation tax credits, which were sold for 14 million dollars. Work on the project proceeded, and was completed in time for the 50th anniversary opening.[7]
The ICRCM opened on February 1, 2010, on the 50th anniversary of the original sit-in, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. A religious invocation was spoken by Rev. Jesse Jackson, Jr.. The three surviving members of the Greensboro Four (McCain, McNeil, and Khazan) were guests of honor. Assistant Attorney Thomas Perez represented the White House. Speakers included Thomas Perez, U.S. Senator Kay Hagan and N.C. Governor Beverly Perdue.[8][9]
Annual events
Since 2007 the museum organization has held an annual Black and White Ball. The 2010 theme was "Commemorating Five Decades of Civil Rights Activism."[9] The 2011 theme was "Make a Change, Make a Difference."[10] The 2013 theme was “Celebrating Our Victories as We Honor Our Past.”[11]
Awards
The museum organization awards an Alston-Jones International Civil and Human Rights Award. The award is given to someone whose life work has contributed to the expansion of civil and human rights. This is the museum's highest citation. The author Maya Angelou was the winner in 1998.[12]
The 2013 Alston-Jones award was presented to Dr. Johnnnetta Betsch Cole, director of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African Art. Dr. Cole is a distinguished educator, cultural anthropologist and humanitarian. She is a former president of Bennett College and of Spelman College. The Museum gave Dr. Joe Dudley Sr., co-founder of Dudley Products, the 2013 Trailblazer Award. Gladys Shipman, proprietor of Shipman Family Care, received the 2013 Unsung Hero Award. For their courageous actions in the wake of the Feb. 1, 1960 sit-in protest, ICRCM gave Sit-In Participant Awards to Roslyn Cheagle of Lynchburg, Virginia; Raphael Glover of Charlotte, North Carolina; and Mary Lou Blakeney and Andrew Dennis McBride of High Point, North Carolina.[11]
Exhibits
Architect Charles Hartmann designed the building in an art deco style. Completed in 1929, the building in the 100 South block of Elm Street was then known as the Whelan Building because Whelan Drug Co. rented most of the space. Woolworth moved into the site in 1939. The building is part of the Downtown Greensboro Historic District.
The International Civil Rights Center & Museum was designed by Freelon Group of Durham, NC and exhibits designed by Eisterhold Associates]of Kansas City, MO and include 30,000 square feet (2,800 m2) of exhibit space occupying the ground floor and basement and office space on the top floor. Docent led and self guided tours are available for a fee. Tours begin in the lower level where visitors are introduced to the segregated society of the 1960s through video presentations and continues with a graphic "Hall of Shame" display of the violence against civil rights protestors of all colors throughout the United States. Visitors are introduced to the four students through an reenactment of the planning session set against the original furniture from their dorm room at A&T College in 1960. Visitors are led into the main floor of the museum where the massive lunch counter, in the original 1960 L shaped configuration occupies nearly the whole width and half the length of the building. Original signage from 1960, dumb waiters that delivered food from the kitchen upstairs are include as is a reenactment of the sit-in on life sized video screens. Visitors are then led through a reproduction of the "Colored Entrance" at the Greensboro Rail Depot where the role of the church, schools, politics, and courts in the civil rights movement are explored. Artifacts include a pen used to sign the Voting Rights Act of 1965, uniform of a Tuskegee Airman native to Greensboro, and a complete Ku Klux Klan robe and hood.[13][14][15][16]
See also
- F. W. Woolworth Building (Lexington, Kentucky)
- 1960 Nashville sit-ins
- 1958 Oklahoma City Sit-ins
- State of Iowa v. Katz
- Timeline of the African-American Civil Rights Movement
References
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.[dead link]
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.[dead link]
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.[dead link]
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ See List of honors received by Maya Angelou.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ http://www.sitinmovement.org/visit/exhibits.asp
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ [Eisterhold Associates Projects|http://www.eisterhold.com/Home/EisterholdHome.html]
External links
- Articles with dead external links from October 2010
- Pages using infobox museum with unsupported parameters
- History of Greensboro, North Carolina
- Museums in Greensboro, North Carolina
- History museums in North Carolina
- African-American museums in North Carolina
- F. W. Woolworth Company
- Historic department store buildings in the United States
- Art Deco architecture in North Carolina
- Lunch counters
- Restaurants in North Carolina
- Museums established in 2010
- 2010 establishments in North Carolina
- African-American Civil Rights Movement (1954–68) museums
- History of African-American civil rights