Atlanta Civil Rights Museum at a glance
Hours: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. seven days a week.
Admission: $15; senior, student, educator, $13; children (3-12), $10; 2 and under, free; military (active and retired), free; military family: adult, $7.50; senior, $6.50; youth, $5.
Location: 100 Ivan Allen Jr. Blvd., Atlanta GA 30308.
Contact: 678-999-8990, www.civilandhumanrights.org.
Parking: Most customers will park at the Georgia Aquarium or at the World of Coke.
MARTA: Civic Center, Peachtree Center and Omni/CNN Stations.
Civic leaders and civil rights icons are gathering Monday to celebrate the opening of the new National Center for Civil and Human Rights.
Congressman John Lewis, among the original Freedom Riders, U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson, Mayor Kasim Reed and former mayor Shirley Franklin are speaking at the event in downtown Atlanta this morning.
Lewis said after walking the center, he was reminded of words from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s father.
“‘Make it plain son,’” he said. “…And this center makes it plain. You cannot walk out of this place without a mood being touched in the spine, and maybe shedding just a few tears.”
Reed thanked Franklin, who with CEO Doug Shipman helped bring the museum to life.
“From this day forward let the National Center for Civil and Human Rights stand as a deep abiding and personal thank you to individuals known and unknown that helped and gave a hand so that their work and sacrifice is never ever taken for granted,” he said.
The $75 million center — located near the World of Coca-Cola and Georgia Aquarium — is more than a decade in the making. Joseph Lowery, former president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, his late wife Evelyn first approached then-mayor Franklin in the early 2000s with a wish list for the project.
Franklin, who received a standing ovation as she took the stage, dedicated the day to Mrs. Lowery.
Lowery died last fall.
“I wasn’t thinking about civil and human rights. I was thinking about water and sewer and potholes and she lifted me out of that place and said Atlanta has a role to play in the 21st century,” Franklin said. “That 21st century role is one to inspire and educate and allow people to come together and understand.”
Shipman, the museum’s CEO, said Monday is a culmination of efforts to bring Atlanta’s civil rights history to a modern generation.
“We started out with an idea of trying to make the stories of the Civil Rights Movement relevant to new generations,” he said.
Shipman told the story of a 16-year-old sitting at a lunch counter inside a museum exhibit, asking friends and family if they could have participated in sit-ins.
“It’s the fulfillment of an idea of (bringing this history) to Atlanta. It’s very gratifying,” he said.
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