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Photo Tour: Atlanta Civil Rights museum

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From a church pew bench, visitors can view a video showing the plane bearing the coffin of Martin Luther King, Jr., at an exhibit in the National Center for Civil and Human Rights Tuesday, June 10, 2014, in Atlanta. The main exhibits include: the King papers on the first floor, the second floor main entrance, open space and mural, the lunch counter, interactive TV displays, Freedom Rider Bus, and stained glass portraits of four girls killed during violence in Alabama, while the third floor showcases the global human rights footprint with intimate cone-shaped movie theaters and a villains and champions exhibit. David Tulis / AJC Special

Credit: David Tulis

Credit: David Tulis

From a church pew bench, visitors can view a video showing the plane bearing the coffin of Martin Luther King, Jr., at an exhibit in the National Center for Civil and Human Rights Tuesday, June 10, 2014, in Atlanta. The main exhibits include: the King papers on the first floor, the second floor main entrance, open space and mural, the lunch counter, interactive TV displays, Freedom Rider Bus, and stained glass portraits of four girls killed during violence in Alabama, while the third floor showcases the global human rights footprint with intimate cone-shaped movie theaters and a villains and champions exhibit. David Tulis / AJC Special
By Bo Emerson
June 20, 2014

The Atlanta Civil Rights museum gallery on the American Civil Rights movement was designed by George C. Wolfe, a Tony Award-winning playwright and director, best-known for directing "Bring in 'da Noise/ Bring in 'da Funk" and "Angels in America — Millennium Approaches."

This is his first museum — not including the fictional attraction in his 1986 play "The Colored Museum." As might be expected, he has created a theatrical experience.

Visitors through a series of what Wolfe calls “portals,” or defining moments, such as the Brown v. Board of Education decision, a life-size re-creation of a Freedom Rider bus, covered with portraits of actual Freedom Riders and a dramatic, interactive depiction of protests at a segregated lunch counter.

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About the Author

Bo Emerson is an Atlanta native and a long-time AJC feature and news writer.

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