NCCHR Names New Wing for Former Mayor Shirley Franklin

Contact:
Tenisha Griggs 
Senior Marketing Director 
National Center for Civil and Human Rights 
[email protected]  

 

ATLANTA (February 27, 2025) – The National Center for Civil and Human Rights (NCCHR) will name one of its new wings for its visionary founder, former Mayor Shirley Clarke Franklin.

NCCHR surprised the former mayor with this announcement on Thursday, February 27, 2025, as part of its Power to Inspire dinner, where Franklin was honored for her lifetime of leadership. Franklin was the Chair of NCCHR’s board of directors since its inception until January 2024. The annual Power to Inspire event celebrates those who have made a significant contribution to protecting the rights of others.

The new Shirley Clarke Franklin Pavilion, on the building’s east side, will provide 5,000 square feet of flexible meeting space for classrooms, performances, and events. The wing’s roof will accommodate a new ticketing booth and outdoor event space.

“Mayor Franklin’s commitment to education and the relevance of history in our lives today will now be memorialized on our building,” said Jill Savitt, NCCHR’s president and CEO. “This expansion fulfills her original vision and celebrates her commitment to human rights and dignity.”

Egbert Perry, NCCHR’s Board Chair and Chairperson and CEO of The Integral Group, LLC, said: “Leading the acquisition of the Morehouse College Collection of Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers, which are displayed at the Center for all of us to study, is an enduring part of Mayor Franklin’s legacy. She had the foresight to create a place where we can learn about the history of rights in America.”

The expansion is a $56.6 million project. To date, NCCHR has raised $53.8 million, leaving $2.8 million to raise. The facility is currently closed for construction and will reopen in Fall 2025. During its temporary closure, NCCHR will continue to host programs in the community and pursue its educational work with schools.

The other new wing, on the west side of the building, will be named for Arthur M. Blank, as has been previously announced. That wing will be called Arthur M. Blank Inspiration Hall. It will house a café and three new galleries:

  • A Family Gallery for children under 12, designed as a Change Agents Headquarters, will feature immersive, hands-on experiences to inspire interest in rights and justice for a new generation.
  • A gallery that tells the history of the Reconstruction Era and its legacy, called Broken Promises, will include artifacts from the Without Sanctuary collection.
  • A Special Exhibitions Gallery will host rotating, traveling, and temporary exhibitions.

Enhancements to the current building will include:

  • A reimagined gallery that displays selected artifacts from the Morehouse College Martin Luther King, Jr. Collection.
  • A new Activation Lab for visitors to reflect on how to tap their power to protect rights and make positive changes in their communities.
  • Expansion of popular installations such as the lunch counter sit-in experience.
  • Updates to the permanent civil and human rights exhibits.

The 20,000-square-foot expansion will bring the total size of the building to 62,000 square feet.

 

About the National Center for Civil and Human Rights

NCCHR is a museum and cultural organization that inspires the changemaker in each of us. Founded in 2014, NCCHR connects the US civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s to global human rights movements for the rights of people of color, women, immigrants, people with disabilities, LGBTQ+ people, and more. Our experiences highlight people who have worked to protect rights and who model how individuals create positive change. For more information, visit our website at civilandhumanrights.org. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, @ctr4chr, and LinkedIn at linkedin.com/company/ncchr.