Freedom Center

The Freedom Center is a proposed academic and conference center focused on human rights that would be located on the site of the former A. G. Gaston Motel facing Kelly Ingram Park, next to the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute.

The idea for the proposed center was developed by Mayor William Bell's office with the idea that it could become the home of a United Nations program for human rights, and that it could help the city's efforts to designate the city's Civil Rights District as a World Heritage Site.

Part of the funding was earmarked for commissioning a "comprehensive study" to recommend ways to revitalized the Civil Rights District. The Freedom Center proposal did not advance, and in late 2016 the city deeded over a portion of the motel property to the National Trust for Historic Preservation for the purpose of securing a Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument. President Barack Obama established the monument by proclamation on January 17, 2017.

The remaining city funds from 2015 were put toward restoration of the motel in two phases. A later proposal from the American Academy of Achievement and Catherine B. Reynolds Foundation called for constructing a "Global Forum for Freedom & Justice" on another site in the Civil Rights District.

References

• Bryant, Joseph D. (January 27, 2015) "Birmingham approves $10 million to renovate Gaston Motel." The Birmingham News
• Davis, Bryan (January 27, 2015) "City approves $10 million funding for A. G. Gaston Motel redevelopment." Birmingham Business Journal