The fight for civil and human rights exploded this summer just steps away from the downtown Atlanta institution dedicated to supporting those two justice principles.
Not far from the plaza of the National Center for Civil and Human Rights, crowds swarmed in protest in the aftermath of the police killing of George Floyd. The uprisings were at turns both peaceful and fierce, and sometimes violent. At their core, they were expressions of long-simmering frustration many felt about the killings of unarmed Black people by police.
Because center was so close to the epicenter of the protests, the question seemed unavoidable: What role would the center play, going forward, in helping communities address systemic inequities, fraught relationships with law enforcement and larger issues of fairness? Calinda Lee, former vice president and chief historian at the Atlanta History Center was recently hired to help the civil and human rights center address those questions. In November, she began as head of programs and exhibitions, a new position for the six-year-old center. At the time of Lee’s hiring, executive director Jill Savitt said Lee, “brings a unique set of skills that will masterfully connect history to the moment our country is facing: historical expertise, creativity, and a commitment to community engagement.”
But in an organization that has seen four executive directors, including two interims, since opening its doors in 2014, Lee will have to draw on those qualities to make the center a more dynamic and recognizable player in the field of human rights. She’ll also have to play a large role in refining and articulating the center’s mission, which has not always been clear. The center is doing online human rights training courses with the Atlanta Police Department and just signed a contract to do the same with the Los Angeles Police Department, she said. The center is also working on a “Truth and Transformation” project, which would help train activists and grassroots organizers in techniques, such as conflict resolution, to address problems in communities before they spill over and ignite. But Lee would like to see many more projects take root.
Here, she talks with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution about the road ahead.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
Q: Not to start with the past, but maybe we can talk a bit about the things that you were able to accomplish in your previous post and how you bring that legacy forward entering into a new space.
A: This work in sharing history, in the public interest, is certainly about being a storyteller. And being an entertainer. And being an educator. All of those things are a big part of this work of museums and of being a historian. But for me, increasingly, the most important issue has been, ‘So what why should people actually care what happened in the past? And what utility is that knowledge for the present?’ So for example, if we’re talking about my most recent exhibition curatorial work, which was Black Citizenship in the Age of Jim Crow (at the Atlanta History Center), why does that matter today? And why does that matter for people in this region? And how is that connected specifically, not only to stories of hope and inspiration and autonomy and fighting back, but also how is that connected to the struggles that they are engaging right this minute to combat voter suppression, to encourage people to exercise their civic rights and to connect a global struggle for human rights?
Q: If I go to Colonial Williamsburg, I know exactly what I’m going to get. If I go to the National Museum of African-American History and Culture, I know exactly what I’m going to get. When I think about the National Center for Civil and Human Rights, I know the Martin Luther King papers are there. I vaguely know that there is a discussion of human rights. But what are you? How will you refine the mission so that people know exactly what this institution is going to offer them?
A: What I see in my role is helping the institution that has, quite frankly, gone through a lot of churn in terms of leadership and leadership direction, to think and present strategically about what does it mean for a national institution to be focused on using history to help people tap their own power to make a difference in the world. When people come into the National Center for Civil and Human Rights, they might encounter any number of permanent or traveling exhibitions or programs, but in every instance, they ought to understand when they leave how the past is connected to the present and have some tools in their toolkit to go out into this world and apply those lessons to their own stories, to their own communities, and keep the movement going.
Q: If you had a model, what would that look like?
A: Things like the center’s law enforcement project, the center’s engagement with diversity, equity and inclusion, and working with corporate entities all over the nation. People don’t know that the National Center for Civil and Human Rights does that kind of work. So, it’s really important to me that we become even more (of an) expert at doing that work, that we are regarded as a resource for that kind of work and that we double down on our intention to have an impact. By doing that kind of work, then that looks a little bit like an NGO (non-governmental organization).
Q: So part of your mission is to push that kind of work more publicly?
A: Only so many people are coming into that building. Only so many people are gazing at those exhibitions. And as wonderful as they might be, they are a springboard for greater and deeper engagement. So, it may be that in a couple of years, maybe the equity in the workplace work takes a backseat to immigration work. Those things can change with strategic planning. But the purpose of the institution is being a resource that helps people to tap their power to make change in ways that are going to create equity across this nation.
Credit: Steve Schaefer
Credit: Steve Schaefer
Q: Are you saying the center should become an advocacy organization?
A: We are advocates for understanding the past and utilizing that information to tap your power to make change. Now, what that looks like for you and what you are connected with and what organizations you might be an activist or advocate within, we are completely agnostic. So, we are not an advocacy organization.
Q: Are you giving people training to help them do that work? Is a person coming to the center just to get inspired?
A: If you wanted, for example, to sign up for training around diversity, equity and inclusion, then we could help do that work. If you wanted to partner with us, then maybe on a case-by-case basis we might develop something together, but it would not be something that is about advocating for your organization.
It may sound like I’m being vague. I’ve been at the center for a couple of weeks, and we are trying to figure this out. One thing I know for sure is that we have to figure it out through a process of community conversation. Sometimes, especially with young organizations, the organizational identity can be deeply tied to a specific leader. The National Center for Civil and Human Rights is in a process of institution building. We have been open for six years. We have been an Atlanta attraction for all of that time. It is now time for us to become a national institution with a clear identity that will transcend all of us who sit in the executive suite today. So, there will be a process of information gathering, and there will be a process of program building. And there will be a process of program refinement, because this is deeply important, society defining work. There is no such thing as too much effort to getting it right.
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