No one can ever accuse the leaders of the International Civil Rights Center and Museum in downtown Greensboro of thinking small – and that’s especially true in 2022 and 2023, when the museum embarked on its effort to become a UNESCO World Heritage Site – an exclusive group of places that includes the Grand Canyon and the Statue of Liberty.
The museum just held its annual Gala – the biggest fundraising event the downtown Greensboro museum holds each year, and museum leaders after the event expressed their enthusiasm for the museum’s big plans.
International Civil Rights Center and Museum CEO John Swaine described the importance of those plans to the museum and to Greensboro.
In an open letter to the community, he wrote: “Once again, we express our gratitude to everyone who contributed to the achievement of the most consequential development at the Museum over the 13 years since we opened to the public — our purchase of the remainder of the full city block on which the landmark five-and-ten-cent store stands, along with the former First Citizens Bank building next door. We are still in the process of raising funds to defray loans we undertook to provide a significant portion of the funds needed to acquire the property.”
In the letter, Swaine thanked the individuals, civic organizations, and elected leaders at various levels of government who have helped the “five-year dream of expansion” so far – including the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation, the City of Greensboro, Guilford County, the State of North Carolina, and the Board of Directors of the nonprofit, Sit-In Movement, Inc.
“I thank you for helping us show our appreciation to last evening’s civil rights honorees for the 63rd Anniversary of the Greensboro Sit-Ins,” he stated the day after the Gala.
Swaine wrote that opportunities offered by the property acquisition are “ever-broadening,” and the new space can be used to implement a vision that allows the museum to pursue “our mission to uphold the global legacy of our place among the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience.”
The museum used to hold its galas early in the year. However, the 2023 Annual Fundraising Gala was held on Tuesday, July 25 to mark the achievement of racial desegregation at the Greensboro Woolworth lunch counter after six months of demonstrations in 1960.
At the gala, the museum recognized six significant contributors to the struggle for civil and human rights.
What percentage of the museum’s operating costs are supported by tax payers?
All of it. Why do you think that Skip won’t release the number of paying visitors He knows it’s a money pit and if it wasn’t for the taxpayers it would not be open now
Your tax dollars at work…do they not publish the funds raised from this “successful gala”?
Ask yourself, does the Woolworth Museum meet the criteria of an outstanding universal value site that has cultural and/or natural significance which is so exceptional that it transcends national boundaries and is of importance to present and future generations of all humanity? Is the Woolworth Museum a natural or cultural site that demonstrates influence or significance in a global context? If the Woolworth Museum makes the designation, all others on the World Heritage List should withdraw from the list since being on the list means nothing. The museum is a one-trick pony that was not the first sit-in. As early as 1957, sit-ins were happening in other cities.
On another note, how much has each of the organizations and city and county governments given to the museum? How can the City of Greensboro and Guilford County governments be complicit in helping the museum buy property that the museum cannot afford on its own so that the new owners, the museum, pay no property tax, which means all other property taxpayers must make up the difference? This is a con perpetrated by all involved in the museum and all the donors and politicians who give tax money to the museum.
Re; Museum “Sit-in GALA, did you attend? Was Clarence Henderson mentioned?
Well well here’s slick earl and racist skip. What a pair.
I continue to wonder when the museum will begin to function without tax money. I have also waited for the Coliseum to finally sustain itself without tax money. According to Mr. Brown it is always profitable in the sense that it somehow adds more “economic value” than the tax funds it annually requires, which somehow reminds me of the “Bidenomics” budgets that seem to promise some similar benefit for which we continuously pay and wait. Speaking for myself, I would rather have the leaves picked up each year, instead of the annual “donations”…
Food for thought:
Irving R. Levine used to do a regular report on things like this. It was called “The Fleecing of America.” Being a Libertarian at heart, I’ll go a step further and call it theft to force us to pay for things that should be privately funded!
Last time I checked, theft and thieves are generally frowned upon and in fact are criminal. Criminals don’t belong behind a dais, they belong behind bars.
So while the City of High Point is busy “rebranding ” itself, right down the street at Elm Towers of High Point Housing Authority, people are dying from neglect, fires are happening and sprinklers are not coming on twice in 2yrs. The transportation has been stopped which was paid for by the tenants and now there are tenants who have no way to get to their doctor appointments because they cannot walk and do not get state funded Medicaid so they are not eligible for that transportation. Tenants have died and no one knew until days later from the stench. The building maintenance is not kept well due to lack of workers. Higher ups are not aware of many issues because they have no contact with them. Drug use and all that comes with it is rampant inside the building. Check these facts out with the Residents President:Ruth Kovach 11th floor
How much taxpayer money is involved
No-one can ever accuse liberals of not being pleased with themselves.
How much money does this lunch counter need? I am not saying this is not important but I feel like a lot of the funds are being misappropriated for a lunch counter that shouldn’t take that much upkeeping.