Morehouse College’s King Papers Collection to Be Exhibited at Atlanta’s Proposed Center for Civil and Human Rights

The Atlanta City Council has floated a bond issue to repay a $32 million loan it took in 2006 to purchase the papers of Martin Luther King Jr. from the King family. The collection, which includes more than 10,000 documents, is housed at the Robert W. Woodruff Library at the Atlanta University Center.

Under an agreement, ownership of the papers will be transferred to Morehouse College, King’s alma mater. But the city of Atlanta will have the right to exhibit the documents at its new Center for Civil and Human Rights in downtown Atlanta next to the Georgia Aquarium and the World of Coca-Cola museum.

The cost of the civil rights center is estimated to be $125 million. Only $50 million has been raised to date. Officials hope to have the center completed by 2012.

Copyright © 2009. The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education. All rights reserved.