Civil Rights Memorial Center Offers Free Admission for King Holiday | Events

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The Civil Rights Memorial Center (CRMC) is offering free admission to the public on Monday in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day and to celebrate the inauguration of President Obama. The CRMC, at 400 Washington Ave. in downtown Montgomery, will be open from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. 
 
The CRMC is an interpretive center containing exhibits about the people and events inscribed on the Civil Rights Memorial outside the center. The memorial includes the names of 40 men, women and children murdered during the civil rights movement. The memorial, designed by Vietnam Veterans Memorial designer Maya Lin, was dedicated in 1989.
 
“We welcome people to the Civil Rights Memorial Center to reflect on and learn from the past, and to recommit themselves to the struggle to maintain American liberties for all,” said Lecia Brooks, director of the CRMC. “Monday is about honoring Dr. King’s life and legacy. The timing of President Obama’s second inaugural is an excellent moment to celebrate all that has been accomplished.”

The Civil Rights Memorial Center, which opened in October 2005, serves as a vehicle for education and reflection about the struggle for equality. In the center’s theater, visitors can watch a 20-minute film, Faces in the Water, about the martyrs of the movement. A colorful hallway displays examples of contemporary struggles for freedom and equality – a reminder that intolerance and injustice persist today.
 
Before leaving the CRMC, visitors can make a public commitment to the ideals of the civil rights movement by adding their names to the Wall of Tolerance, a 20-by-40-foot wall with tens of thousands of digitally projected names.

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The Civil Rights Memorial Center is sponsored by the Southern Poverty Law Center, a non-profit civil rights organization dedicated to fighting hate, teaching tolerance and seeking justice for the most vulnerable members of our society. For more information about the Memorial, visit http://www.splcenter.org/civil-rights-memorial.

Information Source: SPLC