Senate passes John Lewis bid to make MLK site a national historic park

December 22,2017

Source: Becca J. G. Godwin, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The U.S. Senate on Thursday passed Rep. John Lewis’ bill that, if signed by the president, would create Georgia’s first national historic park at the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site in downtown Atlanta.

Lewis has pushed for years to upgrade federal protections and reclassify the site, a change that his office has said would draw more federal resources such as park rangers, educational programming and community grants.

The bill — which is headed to President Donald Trump’s desk — would also add the Prince Hall Masonic Building to the campus that houses King’s birth home, the Ebenezer Baptist Church and a visitor center. The Prince Hall building formerly served as the headquarters of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

King was the first president of the SCLC, which trained many of the civil rights movement’s leaders and spearheaded voter registration drives and education initiatives.

Read the complete article at the link above.