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ATLANTA 鈥� A popular museum in Atlanta is expanding at a critical moment in the United States. And unlike聽the Smithsonian Institution, the privately funded National Center for Civil and Human Rights is beyond the immediate reach of聽Trump administration efforts to control what Americans learn聽about their history.

The monthslong renovation, which cost nearly $60 million, is adding six new galleries as well as classrooms and interactive experiences, changing a relatively static museum into a dynamic place where people are encouraged to support civil and human rights, racial justice and the future of democracy, said Jill Savitt, the center’s president and CEO.

The center will reopen Nov. 8. During construction, officials have worked on聽K-12 education programs聽that include more than 300 online lesson plans; an LGBTQ+ Institute; training in diversity, equity and inclusion; human rights training for law enforcement; and its聽Truth & Transformation Initiative聽to spread awareness about forced labor, racial terror and other historic injustices. These are the same aspects of American history, culture and society that聽the Trump administration has sought to dismantle.

Inspiring future 鈥榗hange agents’

Dreamed up by civil rights icons Evelyn Lowery and Andrew Young, the center opened in 2014 on land donated by the Coca-Cola Company, next to the Georgia Aquarium and The World of Coca-Cola. The museum became a major tourist attraction, but ticket sales declined after the pandemic.

Now the center hopes to attract more repeat visitors with immersive experiences like 鈥淐hange Agent Adventure,鈥� which is geared toward children under 12. These 鈥渃hange agents鈥� will be asked to pledge to do something 鈥� no matter how small 鈥� that 鈥渞eflects the responsibility of each of us to play a role in the world: To have empathy. To call for justice. To be fair, be kind. And that’s the ethos of this gallery,鈥� Savitt said. It will open next April.

鈥淚 think advocacy and change-making is kind of addictive; it’s contagious,鈥� Savitt explained. 鈥淲hen you do something, you see the success of it. You really want to do more. And our desire here is to whet the appetite of kids to see that they can be involved. They can do it.鈥�

This ethos is sharply different from the idea that young people can’t handle the truth and must be protected from unpleasant challenges but, Savitt said, 鈥渢he history that we tell here is the most inspirational history.鈥�

鈥淚n fact, I think it’s what makes America great,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t is something to be patriotically proud of. The way activists over time have worked together through nonviolence and changed democracy to expand human freedom 鈥� there’s nothing more American and nothing greater than that. That is the lesson that we teach here.鈥�

Encouraging hopefulness

鈥淏roken Promises,鈥� which will open in December, includes exhibits from the post-Civil War Reconstruction era, cut short when white mobs sought to brutally reverse advances by formerly enslaved people. 鈥淲e want to start orienting you in the conversation that we believe we all kind of see, but we don’t say it outright: Progress. Backlash. Progress. Backlash. And that pattern that has been in our country since enslavement,鈥� said its curator, Kama Pierce.

On display will be a Georgia historical marker from the site of聽the 1918 lynching of Mary Turner, pockmarked repeatedly with bullets, that Turner descendants donated to keep it from being vandalized again.

鈥淭here are 11 bullet holes and 11 grandchildren living,鈥� and the family’s words will be incorporated into the exhibit to show their resilience, Pierce said.

Items from the Morehouse College Martin Luther King Jr. collection will have a much more prominent place, in a room that recreates King’s home office, with family photos contributed by the center’s first guest curator: his daughter, the Rev. Bernice King.

鈥淲e wanted to lift up King’s role as a man, as a human being, not just as an icon,鈥� Savitt said.

Gone are the huge images of the world’s most genocidal leaders 鈥� Hitler, Stalin and Mao among others 鈥� with explanatory text about the millions of people killed under their orders. In their place there will be examples of human rights victories by groups working around the world.

鈥淭he research says that if you tell people things are really bad and how awful they are, you motivate people for a minute, and then apathy sets in because it’s too hard to do anything,鈥� Savitt said. 鈥淏ut if you give people something to hope for that’s positive, that they can see themselves doing, you’re more likely to cultivate a sense of agency in people.鈥�

Fostering a healthy democracy

And doubling in capacity is an experience many can’t forget: joining a 1960s sit-in against segregation. Wearing headphones as they take a lunch-counter stool, visitors can both hear and feel an angry, segregationist mob shouting they don’t belong. Because this is 鈥渉eavy content,鈥� Savitt said, a new 鈥渞eflection area鈥� will allow people to pause afterward on a couch, with tissues if they need them, to consider what they’ve just experienced.

The center’s expansion was seeded by Home Depot co-founder and Atlanta philanthropist Arthur M. Blank, the Mellon Foundation and many other donors, for which Savitt expressed gratitude: 鈥淭he corporate community is in a defensive crouch right now 鈥� they could get targeted,鈥� she said.

But Savitt said donors shared concerns about people’s understanding of citizenship, so supporting the teaching of civil and human rights makes a good investment.

鈥淚t is the story of democracy 鈥� Who gets to participate? Who has a say? Who gets to have a voice?鈥� she said. 鈥淪o, our donors are very interested in a healthy, safe, vibrant, prosperous America, which you need a healthy democracy to have.鈥�