Grant to assist Georgia Civil Rights Chilly Circumstances Venture uncover Atlanta’s racial historical past | Emory College

Emorys Georgia Civil Rights Cold Cases Project will work with that National Center for Civil and Human Rights Uncovering the Racial History of Atlanta as part of a $ 17 million grant announced Thursday.

Construction of a three-story extension to the Atlanta Museum will take approximately $ 15 million of the gift of the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation.

The Cold Cases Project, a bachelor’s degree program led by Pulitzer Prize-winning Professor Hank Klibanoff, will contribute to the remaining funds Continue research on the Atlanta Race Massacre of 1906, when a white mob, ignited by sensational and unfounded media reports of crime, killed at least 25 African Americans.

The exact amount of funds has not been released for the work that will form the basis of new programs at the center, which opened in 2014. The focus will be on taking a clearer look at the attack, especially those who have died.

“Who were these people? What did they do, how did they live, how did they die? We know enough from our preliminary research to see that the victims were people living on the right side of the law, but they became political farmers dispensable because of their race, ”says Klibanoff, professor of practice at Emorys Creative writing program.

“We will try to animate their lives to give them historical justice denied them by law enforcement and the judicial system in 1906,” he adds.

Klibanoff started the Cold Cases course in 2011, teaching students how to conduct in-depth research on racially motivated murders that were not punished at Jim Crow South. The effort blends journalism with history and African American studies, much like Klibanoff’s own work in “The Race Beat,” the book that earned him the Pulitzer.

He hopes to assemble a team of community researchers and students and alumni who attended the course to capture more details of the 1906 attack, which citizens sought to disguise and minimize almost immediately after it occurred.

The Blank Foundation provided the center and the Cold Cases Project with $ 25,000 in seed capital last year to see if more could be discovered.

Working with Sonam Vashi 15C and Katherine Dautrich 19C – who excelled in his course – and Kera Lamotte, the centre’s public engagement coordinator, Klibanoff found enough in 115-year-old records to convince him to tell victim stories and details about the could reveal the perpetrators and prosecute the descendants of both.

“Atlanta shouldn’t be allowed to pass this myth on as ‘the city too busy to hate’ until the record is set,” says Klibanoff.

Details of how the research will be conducted will be announced in the coming months with a possible summer start.

There has been no discussion yet of whether the results will be turned into a series for “Buried Truths,” the Peabody Award-winning podcast that emerged from Klibanoff’s course.

Other project partners include the Emblematic Group for storytelling in virtual reality and Equitable Dinners for community discussions, according to a press release.

“The most effective way to make progress together as a community is to look at the issues that exist and then do something about them so everyone can feel a sense of understanding and support. We believe in the power of the National Center for Civil and Human Rights to educate, involve and transform the entire community and this country so that together we can bring about tangible, positive changes, ”says Blank in a prepared statement.

The Blank Family Foundation donated more than $ 20 million to the center, including an initial $ 1.5 million to start construction in 2013, to help connect the civil rights movement with today’s global fight for human rights.

Jill Savitt, CEO of the center, said in a press release that the latest gift will allow the museum to expand on that vision, which Klibanoff for his part confirms.

“Emory was brilliant at encouraging and supporting the fellowship to uncover these stories that might otherwise be lost in time,” he says. “In … workg with The Center and Jill Savitt elevate the importance of our work to discover the truth. “