Mays site listed on U.S. Civil Rights Trail
Benjamin E. Mays’ contributions to racial equality in America are once again being highlighted on the national stage, with his childhood home and supporting research center earning a spot on the U.S. Civil Rights Trail.
The Greenwood site is one of nine South Carolina stops on the trail, which spans more than 100 locations across 14 states, from Topeka, Kansas to Wilmington, Delaware. The initiative was officially unveiled Monday to coincide with MLK Day.
“It is great for our site to be recognized as one that is reflective of the history of the civil rights movement in America,” said Chris Thomas, director of the Mays Historical Preservation Site. “I think it’ll drive visitors for us, because the purpose of our site is to be a one-stop shop for people to tour and visit.”
The Mays site is in line for $646,592 from the capital projects sales tax collection for the construction of a 2,800-square-foot auditorium to expand programming and offer new research opportunities on a man credited as the “intellectual conscience” of the civil rights era.
The trail’s origins can be traced to 2016, when former National Park Service director Jonathan Jarvis urged historians to inventory surviving civil rights landmarks. Working through Georgia State University, officials were able to identify 60. Travel South, a 12-state consortium of tourism agencies, supplemented the list.
“We feel that the trail will encourage Americans to better understand their history,” Travel South president Liz Bittner said. Officials said several major international tour operators have added civil rights destinations to their itineraries.
Mays’ impact on the civil rights movement cannot be understated. Though he’s not a household name, his work behind the scenes and in the halls of Washington D.C., along with a near 30-year tenure as president of Morehouse College and overseeing desegregation of Atlanta public schools as president of its board of education, have given the Epworth native a vaunted place in history.
“I always make this analogy: It’s like the songwriter and rock star. Mays was the orchestrator of the movement, so in some ways he walked in the shadows of the stars he created,” Thomas said. “We know the names of the people whose lives he impacted, but we often don’t know Mays himself.”
The trail includes some of the most significant sites in modern American history, including Little Rock, Arkansas, Montgomery and Selma, Alabama and Nashville, Tennessee. The Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C., where King delivered his “I Have A Dream” speech in 1963, is also on the trail.
Among the venues in South Carolina are Springfield Baptist Church in Greenville and McCrory’s Five and Dine in Rock Hill, home of the one of the first lunch counter sit-ins on Feb. 12, 1960.
Kelly McWhorter, director of the Greenwood Regional Visitors and Tourism Bureau, said the city is honored to be a part of the trail.
“The inclusion of the Benjamin E. Mays Historic Preservation Site on the U.S. Civil Rights Trail is truly significant for tourism development in Greenwood County,” she said. “We are excited and blessed to have an attraction that chronicles the history and contributions of Dr. Mays. … This will afford the site exposure to a wide spectrum of civil rights history enthusiasts, and it is our hope that visitation will increase significantly to our area.”
For information on the U.S. Civil Rights Trail, visit civilrightstrail.com.
Originally Published by Index-Journal on:Jan 17, 2018
By ADAM BENSON abenson@indexjournal.com
Article Link: https://www.indexjournal.com/news/mays-site-listed-on-u-s-civil-rights-trail/article_07fa5603-9687-520e-8e70-6a98700654ce.html