A historic journey for civil rights

MlK’s legacy, museums and important churches illustrate march toward equality

Georgia played crucial role in the movement

{ ABOVE: NATIONAl CENTER FOR CIVIl & HUMAN RIGHTS, ATlANTA }

in the mid-20th century, civil rights were a heartfelt priority for Georgia residents. Their leadership role in social reform was marked by courage, perseverance and faith.

Throughout the state, memorials and museums mark turning points during a tumultuous time in united States history.

Coastal connection

The Ralph Mark Gilbert Civil Rights Museum in Savannah has a story to tell. Located in the former Wage Savings and Loan Bank, once the largest financial institution for blacks in the country, its three floors contain records of Savannah’s civil rights saga. The museum is named for the late Dr. Ralph Mark Gilbert, pastor at the historic First African Baptist Church and a leader in the struggle for equality.

Faith perseveres

The Albany Civil Rights institute found a home in Old Mount zion Church, the site of mass meetings in southwest Georgia. Four students sang a cappella to voice their opposition to slavery; Rutha Mae Harris, Bernice Johnson, Cordell Reagon and Charles Neblett called themselves the Freedom Singers. Their voices became the sound of civil rights around the world. The Freedom Singers still sing a cappella at the church on the second Saturday of every month.

Across the street from Mt. zion, Martin Luther king Jr. addressed overflowing crowds at Shiloh Baptist Church. Shiloh is considered the birthplace of the Albany civil rights movement. A trail of footprints leads from the front of the church to the Albany bus station. They mark the route of the Albany civil rights march in 1961 that ended in mass arrests.

Churches across the state provided space for meetings and often havens during the Civil Rights Movement.

Dr. Charles Spencer Hamilton at the tabernacle Baptist Church in Augusta hosted many famous activists, including Dr. king, congresswoman Shirley Chisholm and Thurgood Marshall, then an attorney. in Columbus, the First African Baptist Church, which was founded in 1830 as a church for slaves, had white ministers until 1862. That year, the Rev. Harry Wilson became its first black minister.

Fight for freedom

inside the Morgan County AfricanAmerican Museum, visitors learn about freed-slave John Wesley Moore (1862-1908). As a free man, Moore was among an emerging group of African American property owners. By the time of his death, he had built the house and left his widow debt free with 67 acres of land.

Society, then and now, is the focus at the National Center for Civil & Human Rights in Atlanta. Established in 2014, the center is among the must-see attractions at pemberton place — adjacent to the World of Coca-Cola and the massive Georgia Aquarium.