FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Andi Martin, Marketing
and Public Relations Manager
andi.martin@ahc.alabama.gov, 334-230-2680
April 10, 2020
Alabama Historical Commission Receives Three
National Park Service African American Civil Rights
Grants
(Montgomery, AL) The Alabama Historical Commission (AHC), the
State Historic Preservation Office, is the recipient of three African American
Civil Rights grants through the National Park Service. In total, AHC was
awarded $600,000 of NPS funds for the Freedom Rides Museum, Moore Building, and
a multi-site nomination for Montgomery, AL. The
African American Civil Rights grant program is funded by the Historic
Preservation Fund and administered by the National Park Service, Department of
Interior.
In 2018, Congress appropriated
funding for the African American Civil Rights (AACR) Grants program
through the Historic Preservation Fund. This year’s Alabama grant
recipients include a diverse range of projects including the collection of oral
histories of foot soldiers along with rehabilitation, restoration and repair of
historic churches and two libraries.
Alabama
Representative Terri Sewell is a champion for Alabama’s historic sites,
particularly those related to the Civil Rights Movement. Securing funding to
ensure the preservation of crucial civil rights history has been one of Rep.
Sewell’s top priorities since coming into office, and she has worked tirelessly
to secure adequate funding through the National Park Service. This round of
funding has been allocated for sites in Birmingham, Montgomery, Tuscaloosa and
Selma.
“Even as we remain
laser focused on doing everything within our power to prevent the spread of
COVID-19; we must still remember the importance of investing in the
preservation of the remarkable history of Alabama’s 7th Congressional
District,” said Representative Sewell. “Our history is one of
joining together as a community to persevere in the face of insurmountable
odds, a history that we are collectively leaning on in the face of this
pandemic. I am grateful for this meaningful investment from the National Park
Services, understanding that in reflecting on our history we may
forge a better future.”
“These
funds from the African American Civil Rights Grant Program will
specifically enable the Alabama Historical Commission to further preserve and
highlight the saga of the 1961 Freedom Rides as they occurred in
Montgomery,” said Lisa D. Jones, Executive Director, Alabama Historical
Commission. “We are deeply appreciative of Congresswoman
Sewell’s dedication to our state and her ongoing efforts to illuminate the
world-changing history made here in Alabama.”
The first award is a $500,000
grant for the second phase rehabilitation effort of the historic Moore
Building, the structure across from the historic Greyhound Bus Station
that witnessed this campaign of the Civil Rights Movement. The second
award is a $50,000 grant that will be used by the Freedom Rides Museum for
exhibit fabrication as they reimagine the interpretive space within the
complex. The third grant for $50,000 is for the completion of a Multiple
Property Documentation form that will serve as a basis for evaluating National
Register of Historic Places eligibility of locations connected to the Modern Civil
Rights Movement in Montgomery, AL. Unlike Selma and Birmingham, Montgomery does
not have a cohesive narrative or documentation of what happened before and
during the Modern Civil Rights Movement, as defined by the National Park
Service from 1954 to 1968.
“The announcement by the National
Park Service of African American Civil Rights grants to the Alabama Historical
Commission is welcome news at a time when there is a thirst for insight into
the role that Montgomery and the State of Alabama played in kindling the Civil
Rights Movement in this country,” said Eddie Griffith, Chairman of the
Alabama Historical Commission. “These grants will allow the AHC to enhance
the experience of our visitors from around the world who are coming to Alabama
for a better understanding of the people and conditions that led to the
movement. We are also pleased to see grants to our partners throughout
the state for preservation of their sites and in telling their stories.”
A property of the Alabama
Historical Commission, the Freedom Rides Museum is located in the
1951 Montgomery Greyhound Bus Station and is one of few Alabama state-operated
Civil Rights sites. In the 2000s, AHC restored the exterior of the building to
its 1951 appearance and opened the museum on site in 2011, coinciding with the
50th anniversary of the 1961 Freedom Rides. The museum hosts a series of
programs and rotating exhibits, with the current exhibit installed in 2014.
In
2021, the AHC and the nation will commemorate the 60th anniversary of the
Freedom Rides. “We appreciate the National Park Service and Congresswoman
Sewell for their generous support of the Freedom Rides Museum as we develop
plans for a nationwide tribute to these heroes,” said Dorothy Walker, Site
Director, Freedom Rides Museum. “We are honored to share the story
of their courage and commitment to justice and equality for the thousands of
visitors from around the world who visit the Freedom Rides Museum each year.”
The 1961 Freedom Rides were a
watershed event, one Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. described as “a
psychological turning point in our whole struggle.” The historic bus station
stands today as a testament to the effectiveness of nonviolent direct-action
protest and how these methods were employed by ordinary citizens to garner
broad support for the civil rights movement from national leaders. The Freedom
Rides Museum profiles the courageous actions of more than 430 ordinary people
who risked their lives and freedom for equal treatment under the law and is one
of only two sites in the nation exclusively dedicated to interpreting the
Freedom Rides and its enormous impact on American civil rights history.
In early 2018, the National Park
Service funded the first phase of an exhibit plan for the Freedom Rides Museum.
Moving forward, AHC selected Ralph Appelbaum Associates, an
internationally recognized museum design firm that has planned exhibits in the United
States Holocaust Museum and the National Museum of African American
History and Culture. Also in 2018, the Commission was gifted a vintage 1958
Greyhound Bus by the Greyhound Bus Museum in Hibbing, MN. With donated
funding support in place for the bus renovation, it is presently being restored
and enhanced as a state-of-the-art mobile museum to tell the story of
non-violent protest. Appelbaum and Associates designed the plan for the bus
exhibit. The bus will debut in 2021 for the 60th anniversary of the
Freedom Rides.
Situated
at the corner of South Court Street and Adams Avenue, the historic Moore
Building overlooks the city street where a violent mob of hundreds met the
Freedom Riders as they arrived at the Montgomery Greyhound Bus Station on May
20, 1961. The riot spilled onto the streets and sidewalks; Freedom Riders,
among them future Congressman John Lewis, and members of the media, were
attacked as they peacefully protested for integrated interstate transportation.
Several Freedom Riders escaped their attackers through the federal building
next door while bystanders watched from the entryway of the Moore Building. The
attack was part of a series of local events that led the Kennedy
Administration to side with the civil rights protestors for the first time
and inspired federal Judge Frank M. Johnson, Jr. to pass a series of
rulings that shape civil rights laws to this day.
The $500,000 NPS funding will
bring the c. 1942 Moore Building back to public use and increase the Freedom
Rides Museum’s sustainability and interpretive impact. It will also provide a
platform for a broader, deeper story of Montgomery’s history, such as the
economic pressures imposed by those opposed to the Civil Rights Movement from
groups like White Citizen Councils. The addition of finished space on the
ground floor of the Moore Building will provide the opportunity for the Freedom
Rides Museum to enhance and expand cross-generational programing,
interpretation, partnerships, and community engagement, increasing visitation,
support, and sustainability.
About the Freedom Rides Museum
Working with concerned citizens, The Alabama Historical Commission saved the
Greyhound Bus Station from demolition in the mid-1990s. The Museum is located
at the intersection of S. Court St. and Adams Avenue in downtown Montgomery. An
award-winning exhibit on the building's exterior traces the Freedom Riders'
history. It uses words and images of the Freedom Riders, those who supported
them, and those who opposed them. Interior exhibits highlight additional
information on the Freedom Riders and the way in which buildings were designed
for racial segregation. Today, the Alabama Historical Commission operates this
significant site.
About
the Alabama Historical Commission
Located
in historic downtown Montgomery
at 468 S. Perry Street, the Alabama Historical Commission is the state historic
preservation agency for Alabama. The agency was created by an act of the state
legislature in 1966 with a mission to protect, preserve and
interpret Alabama’s historic places. AHC works to accomplish its mission
through two fields of endeavor: Preservation and promotion of state-owned
historic sites as public attractions; and, statewide programs to assist people,
groups, towns, and cities with local preservation activities. For a complete
list of programs and properties owned and operated by the AHC, hours of
operation, and admission fees please visit ahc.alabama.gov.
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