Capital Campaign for New Building

For too long, the stories of Black people have been framed by their suffering rather than their strength. The John Hope Franklin Center for Reconciliation’s mission is to promote historical truth, social justice, and community healing, and preserving and elevating the untold stories of resistance; stories of those who fought against oppression and shaped history with their courage. Reconciliation Park is not just a vision for the preservation of a historical site, it is designed to be an educational experience, a platform for storytelling, and an opportunity to ensure that the stories of those who fought for their freedom are told with dignity and truth.

 

The John Hope Franklin Center for Reconciliation seeks to create a tapestry of people, resources and facilities that will engage the community in learning, understanding, and establishing a just society for all. The John Hope Franklin Center for Reconciliation will be a building that is welcoming and inclusive of all members of our community. In this building we will focus on the examination of our local history to weave into it the presence of a community-focused center fostering reconciliation for all people. This new building will be the home of the John Hope Franklin Center for Reconciliation.

 

Within the John Hope Franklin Center for Reconciliation, visitors will not simply learn about history; they will see it come to life through permanent exhibits, traveling exhibits, symposia, lectures/performances, and storytelling that highlight the intelligence, strategy, and courage of those who fought back. The John Hope Franklin Center for Reconciliation and Reconciliation Park are not about monuments of oppression; they are about celebrating the power and resilience of those who took their freedom into their own hands. Through exhibitions, programs, and storytelling, the Center reclaims narrative power and cultural memory for present and future generations.

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Beyond its historical significance, JHF Center for Reconciliation project will create educational opportunities, and aligns with the Center’s commitment to historical truth, reconciliation, and the preservation of Black history. By ensuring that the legacy of the Greenwood District and the 1921 Race Massacre are properly honored, we are not only remembering the past but shaping a more informed and empowered future.

 

The vision for the John Hope Franklin Center for Reconciliation is to provide a place where learning, service, engagement, and research come together to build and disseminate knowledge; a place where community members feel welcomed, find needed resources and discover their own history; a place where healing and transformation happens; and a place that embodies the continuum of remembering, telling, discovering, showing the past in all its imperfections, and building a better, stronger future. And a place where people may discover the full history of our city, state, and nation to gain greater understanding of their place in history.

 

Your support will be instrumental in ensuring memory matters as a tool for healing, for justice, and for preserving truth in moments when it is at risk. At a time when history and culture are increasingly under attack, memory becomes more than recollection. Safeguarding memory is essential to honoring lived experience and ensuring that the injustices of the past are not repeated.