SCLC pavillion commemorating the founding of the civil rights organization on the horizon

20th February 2017   ·   0 Comments

By Charmaine Jackson and Christopher Tidmore
Contributing Writers

Grover Mouton had been invited to lend his architectural expertise to the commemoration of the Civil Rights struggle in Birmingham, AL when one of the organizers began to explain that the Southern Christian Leadership Conference actually started in New Orleans.

After hearing the story of how, in 1957, Martin Luther King, Jr., Ralph David Abernathy, and C. K. Steele joined together in the Crescent City with local attorney Israel M. Augustine to draft the articles of incorporation merging the Montgomery Improvement Association with other local civil rights groups to form the “Southern Leadership Conference,” Mouton had only one reply.

“This is unbelievable. No one has ever said anything to me.”

It’s not surprising that the head of the Regional Urban Design Center at Tulane University’s School of Architecture had quite that reaction. Of that historic, world-changing meeting at New Zion Baptist Church in Central City in February of 1957, there are few accounts. In fact, The Louisiana Weekly was the only newspaper to cover Dr. King’s visit that month—and the formation of the group that would redub itself the “Southern Christian Leadership Conference” in Montgomery the following August.

At that moment, Mouton pledged that “One day we would do something” to honor the historic gathering of Dr. King and his associates. Yet, he added, despite his best efforts, “That was 20 years ago.”

Mouton labored for over a decade to get city leaders behind his proposed commemoration, with little success. However, all that changed six years ago. Walking down the street one day, he ran into a friend, Louise Martin, the founder of Felicity Redevelopment, a non-profit which purchased and rehabilitated properties in Central City.

Mouton was immediately inspired to tell Mrs. Martin the story and enlist her help. He pledged the resources of Tulane’s Urban Design Center, and Martin secured a property at 2501 LaSalle St, at the corner of Second and LaSalle. On that lot, they dreamed of constructing an historical pavilion, just across from New Zion Church. “The idea is an interpretive center,” Mouton explained. “There is nothing [in New Orleans] that celebrates Black heritage at this level.”

The Central City Park will tell the story of the founding of the SCLC in February 1957, and its impact on the nation. “To make people aware that this happened in New Orleans, and this is a tremendous moment,” Mouton observed. Located just a few blocks from the Civil Rights martyrs monument and the MLK statue on Claiborne, and equidistant to Oretha Castle Halley Blvd., the location will serve as the nexus of walks explaining the struggle to new generations.

“My students have done multiple designs… which got the discussion going,” Mouton explained, “so now we have a whole battery of designs.” Various architectural renderings will be presented to the public from 5:30-7:30 p.m. on March 16, 2017 at Kipp Central City Academy Cafeteria. Felicity Redevelopment and the Tulane Urban Design Center invite public comment on what Mouton describes as a temporary “monument” that will lead to a more substantial permanent exhibit “as funds come in.”

After soliciting public opinion on March 16, the architects from Tulane and representatives from Felicity pledge to “build a monument and take it to all the churches so everyone can be involved.”

According to Ella Camburnbeck, Felicity Redevelopment Executive Director, “We wish to engage the neighborhood for input as to what they want to see on the site, how they want it to look, to be able to identify with it, and access it, ensuring the design is accessible.”

Noting that many of the initial sketches by Mouton’s students at Tulane were configured with no context of the design of the neighborhood, she said, “What we want is something that fits in the neighborhood.”

To that end, besides the open-air pavilion at LaSalle and Second, artists from YAYA (Young Aspirations Young Artists), who are involved with other spin off projects related to the Civil Rights landscape in New Orleans, seek to have children design markers and put them along LaSalle St. and Jackson Ave. which identify different Civil Rights landmarks.

Besides the SCLC commemoration, Landscape Architects Dana Brown & Associates plan to incorporate some water management strategies into the park. As a representative explained, “The site of the pavilion will be designed to hold water when it needs to. In the case of a heavy downpour, the site will be designed to hold the water. The topography of the land on the site includes dips and wells, which will allow for assistance with alleviating flooding in the streets and allow the ground to best absorb the water. It will also be designed to filter back into the water table or catch basins closest to the site.”

The plan is to improve drainage in Central City, and at the same time, keep history alive. As District “B” Councilwoman and likely mayoral candidate LaToya Cantrell noted of the proposed park, “It really just speaks of the people’s conscience… Meeting people where they are… and it’s a time for real activism that we have not seen for a long time.”

The SCLC monument park, she said, “is a big deal, a really big opportunity to create a real nexus in the heart of Central City.”

More on this story at http://www.louisianaweekly.com/vacant-lasalle-street-lot-offered-for-memorial-for-mlk-and-sclc/.

This article originally published in the February 20, 2017 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.