Abstract:
In 1992, the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute opened to the public after several years of argument, construction, and development. Was it to remember the heroic events of the Civil Rights Movement, to gain tourist dollars, to correct the historical record, educate the public, or a combination of these ideas? No matter the reason both the Birmingham Civil Institute and the Birmingham Public Library Department of Archives and Manuscripts and created and constructed for, both play an important and needed role in the story of Birmingham. What is that role? Through education and research, collecting institutions like the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute shine a light on important, but dark chapters, of Birmingham’s, the United States’, and the world’s history so that people can remember, discover, and learn from those events. Whatever their size or affiliation, collecting institutions play a needed role in the search for social justice and transitional justice. Thinking about this, what roles have, and could, the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute and Birmingham Public Library play in the search for social justice in Birmingham, Alabama? This study will show that both the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute and the Birmingham Public Library Department of Archives and Manuscripts have assisted Birmingham, Alabama in that city’s search for social justice for fostering education and research. Education and research allow the public to learn about the events that took place during Birmingham’s Civil Rights movement and apply the lessons and documents from that Movement to their own time and own location.
