Safe House Black History Museum

Museum and cultural center in Greensboro, Alabama

Safe House Black History Museum

Established| 2002 (2002)
Location| Greensboro, Alabama, US
Coordinates| 32°41′52″N 87°36′35″W﻿ / ﻿32.69778°N 87.60972°W﻿ / 32.69778; -87.60972
Type| History
Founder| Theresa Burroughs
Employees| none
Website| safehousemuseum.org

The Safe House Black History Museum is a museum and cultural center in Greensboro, Alabama, United States. In March 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. used one of the museum's buildings as a safe house two weeks before he was assassinated on April 4 in Memphis.

## Founding and mission

[edit]

The museum was founded in 2002 by Theresa Turner Burroughs.[1][2][3] The museum's focus is the grass-roots activism in the rural Black Belt that led to the US civil rights movement.[1][2][3]

## Description and use as a safe house

[edit]

The museum is housed in neighboring shotgun houses in Greensboro's Depot neighborhood, homes originally built for employees of a local cotton gin.[1][2][3][4] One of the houses, a three-room structure, was owned by the Burroughs family, who were local activists; Theresa Burroughs had been childhood friends with Coretta Scott King.[2][3] Martin Luther King Jr. used it as a safe house on March 21, 1968, while being hunted by the Ku Klux Klan, shortly before his assassination.[1][3][5]

## Displays

[edit]

Displays include a pickup truck from which King gave a speech when local churches were afraid to allow him to speak in their buildings[1] and mugshots of local activists who were arrested in protests and marches during the civil rights era, including the Greensboro marches, Bloody Sunday, and the 1965 march from Selma to Montgomery.[2][6][3] A desk made for a local landowner by one of the people he enslaved is held in its collection.[7]

## Recognition

[edit]

In 2010, Auburn University's Rural Studio selected the museum as a project for architecture students. The buildings were renovated and their exteriors restored to their original style, and a covered gallery was built to connect them.[3] In 2018, it was one of 20 Alabama sites important to civil rights history to be placed on the World Monument Fund's watch list.[8]

## Funding

[edit]

As of 2021, the museum operated on a $10,000 annual budget, had a volunteer executive director, and was open by appointment.[1] Funding comes from donations, grants, admissions fees, and gift shop sales.[1] As of 2024, funders included the city of Greensboro, the Alabama Humanities Alliance, and the Alabama African American Civil Rights Heritage Sites Consortium.[9]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c d e f g Felton, Emmanuel (October 4, 2021). "Alabama spends more than a half-million dollars a year on a Confederate memorial. Black historical sites struggle to keep their doors open". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Archived from the original on June 25, 2023. Retrieved January 24, 2024.
2. ^ a b c d e Davis, Carla (March 26, 2020). "Women's History Month: Theresa Burroughs' Greensboro museum preserves Alabama's civil rights history". Alabama News Center. Archived from the original on January 24, 2024. Retrieved January 24, 2024.
3. ^ a b c d e f g "Safe House Black History Museum". Encyclopedia of Alabama. Archived from the original on January 24, 2024. Retrieved January 24, 2024.
4. ^ "Safe House Black History Museum". Rural Studio. June 5, 2019. Archived from the original on October 4, 2023. Retrieved January 24, 2024.
5. ^ Cobb, Mark Hughes (June 7, 2023). "Greensboro celebrates bicentennial with tour of historic homes, museums and churches". The Tuscaloosa News. Archived from the original on January 24, 2024. Retrieved January 24, 2024.
6. ^ Tomberlin, Michael (September 21, 2021). "Alabama small towns: Greensboro". Alabama News Center. Archived from the original on January 24, 2024. Retrieved January 24, 2024.
7. ^ Martin, Jake (July 13, 2014). "Returning a desk to its rightful place". St. Augustine Record. Archived from the original on January 24, 2024. Retrieved January 24, 2024.
8. ^ Sharpe, Keisa (January 23, 2018). "African-American heritage sites in Alabama recognized through special fund, history preserved". Alabama News Center. Archived from the original on January 24, 2024. Retrieved January 24, 2024.
9. ^ "Home". Safe House Black History Museum. Archived from the original on January 24, 2024. Retrieved January 24, 2024.

* v
* t
* e

Martin Luther King Jr.

Speeches, writings, movements, and protests

| Speeches|

* "Give Us the Ballot" (1957)
* "I Have a Dream" (1963)
* "How Long, Not Long" (1965)
* "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence" (1967)
* "I've Been to the Mountaintop" (1968)

|

Writings|

* Stride Toward Freedom (1958)
* "What Is Man?" (1959)
* "Second Emancipation Proclamation"
* Strength to Love (1963)
* "Letter from Birmingham Jail" (1963)
* Why We Can't Wait (1964)
* Conscience for Change (1967)
* Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? (1967)

Movements
and protests|

* Montgomery bus boycott (1955–1956)
* Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom (1957)
* Albany Movement (1961–1962)
* Birmingham campaign (1963)
* March on Washington (1963)
* St. Augustine movement (1963–1964)
* Selma to Montgomery marches (1965)
* Chicago Freedom Movement (1966)
* Mississippi March Against Fear (1966)
* Anti-Vietnam War movement (1967)
* Memphis sanitation strike (1968)
* Poor People's Campaign (1968)

Organizations|

* Montgomery Improvement Association
* Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)

People

| Family|

* Coretta Scott King (wife)
* Yolanda King (daughter)
* Martin Luther King III (son)
* Dexter King (son)
* Bernice King (daughter)
* Martin Luther King Sr. (father)
* Alberta Williams King (mother)
* Christine King Farris (sister)
* A. D. King (brother)
* James Albert King (grandfather)
* Alveda King (niece)

|

Other
leaders|

* Ralph Abernathy (mentor, colleague)
* Ella Baker (colleague)
* James Bevel (strategist / colleague)
* Dorothy Cotton (colleague)
* Jesse Jackson (protégé)
* Bernard Lafayette (colleague)
* James Lawson (colleague)
* John Lewis (colleague)
* Joseph Lowery (colleague)
* Benjamin Mays (mentor)
* Diane Nash (colleague)
* James Orange (colleague)
* Bayard Rustin (advisor)
* Fred Shuttlesworth (colleague)
* C. T. Vivian (colleague)
* Wyatt Walker (colleague)
* Hosea Williams (colleague)
* Andrew Young (colleague)

Assassination

* Lorraine Motel (now National Civil Rights Museum)
* Riots
* Funeral
* James Earl Ray
* Jack Kershaw
* U.S. House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA)
* Martin Luther King Jr. Records Collection Act
* Loyd Jowers
* Trial
* Conspiracy theories
* Executive Order 14176

Media

| Film|

* King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis (1970 documentary)
* Our Friend, Martin (1999 animated)
* Boycott (2001 film)
* The Witness: From the Balcony of Room 306 (2008 documentary)
* Selma (2014 film)
* All the Way (2016 film)
* King in the Wilderness (2018 documentary)
* MLK/FBI (2020 documentary)
* Rustin (2023 film)

|

Television|

* King (1978 miniseries)
* "The First Store" (The Jeffersons, 1980)
* "Great X-Pectations" (A Different World, 1993)
* "The Promised Land" (New York Undercover, 1997)
* Selma, Lord, Selma (1999)
* "Return of the King" (The Boondocks, 2006)
* Alpha Man: The Brotherhood of MLK (2011 documentary)
* Genius (MLK/X, 2024)

Plays|

* The Meeting (1987)
* The Mountaintop (2009)
* I Dream (2010)
* All the Way (2012)

Books|

* Bearing the Cross (1986)
* America in the King Years (1988, 1998, 2006)
* King: A Life (2023)

Illustrated|

* Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story (1957 comic book)

Music|

* "Abraham, Martin and John" (Dion)
* "March! For Martin Luther King" (John Fahey)
* "Martin Luther King's Dream" (Strawbs)
* "Happy Birthday" (Stevie Wonder)
* "Pride (In the Name of Love)" (U2)
* "MLK" (U2)
* "King Holiday" (King Dream Chorus and Holiday Crew)
* "By the Time I Get to Arizona" (Public Enemy)
* "Shed a Little Light" (James Taylor)
* "Up to the Mountain" (Patti Griffin)
* "Never Alone Martin" (Jason Upton)
* "Symphony of Brotherhood" (Miri Ben-Ari)
* Joseph Schwantner: New Morning for the World; Nicolas Flagello: The Passion of Martin Luther King (1995 album)
* "A Dream" (Common featuring will.i.am)
* "Glory" (Common and John Legend)

Related|

* Civil rights movement in popular culture
* Estate of Martin Luther King, Jr., Inc. v. CBS, Inc.
* King v. Trustees of Boston Univ.

Related topics

| Memorials and
eponymous locations|

* Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial
* National Historical Park
* King Center for Nonviolent Social Change
* Dexter Avenue Baptist Church
* National Civil Rights Museum
* U.S. Capitol Rotunda sculpture
* Oval Office bust
* Homage to King sculpture, Atlanta
* Hope Moving Forward statue, Atlanta
* Safe House Black History Museum
* Statues of Martin Luther King Jr.
* Atlanta
* Boston
* Denver
* Houston
* Jersey City
* Milwaukee
* Mexico City
* Newark
* Pueblo, Colorado
* Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, San Francisco
* Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial (Compton)
* Landmark for Peace Memorial, Indianapolis
* The Dream sculpture, Portland, Oregon
* Kennedy–King College
* Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, Washington, D.C.
* Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library, San Jose
* Paris park
* Memorials to Martin Luther King Jr.
* King County, Washington
* Eponymous streets

|

Other topics|

* Martin Luther King Jr. Day
* passage
* Big Six
* African American founding fathers of the United States
* Authorship issues
* FBI–King suicide letter
* Martin Luther King Jr., A Current Analysis
* Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity
* Season for Nonviolence
* Civil rights movement in popular culture
* Lee–Jackson–King Day

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