You can now see the renovated A.G. Gaston Motel
Gallery space on the life of A.G. Gaston, which details his contributions to the civil rights movement.
Almost 40 years after it closed, the newly renovated A.G. Gaston Motel in downtown Birmingham opened to the public Thursday. Visitors will be able to walk in the same steps as many historic Black figures.
Vacant since 1996, restoration efforts received a boost when President Barack Obama established the Birmingham Civil Rights Monument during his final week in office.
Since then, the city of Birmingham and the National Park Service (NPS) have been working in joint effort to restore the motel.
The city of Birmingham renovated the 1968 wing that includes a coffee shop and a gallery on the life of motel-founder A.G. Gaston. Gaston quietly contributed to the Civil Rights Movement as a businessman and entrepreneur. He put up money to bail out many civil rights protestors who were arrested, including Martin Luther King Jr.
“We see this as a real gift to the residents of Birmingham so that they have an opportunity to reconnect with their own history,” said Denise Gilmore, director of the city’s Division of Social Justice and Racial Equality.
The NPS restored the 1954 wing of the motel, which houses the motel’s 32-rooms.
One of those rooms became known as the “War Room.” This is where King and other civil rights leaders strategized plans to end segregation in Birmingham in 1963. Other prominent leaders that stayed at the motel include Nina Simone, James Brown and Aretha Franklin.
The NPS has not announced when the interior of this wing will be open for public viewing.
A courtyard bridges the two wings. Gilmore said visitors can feel the impact the motel had on civil rights.
“It’s always really moving for me to stand here and to know that I’m standing on sacred ground where people actually came and were willing to put their lives on the line,” said Gilmore.
The opening of the motel is part of Birmingham’s Forging Justice commemoration, a yearlong remembrance of 60 years since key moments from the Civil Rights Movement in the city.
The motel is open for tours on Thursdays to Saturdays from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Admission will be free until the late summer.
Newly discovered dinosaur species was a fish-eater with a huge horn
The semi-aquatic dinosaur, Spinosaurus mirabilis, was discovered by an international team of scientists working in Niger.
Reporters’ notebook: The Olympics closing ceremony is way more fun than you’d think
Olympics opening ceremonies tend to get more love than their closing counterparts. But a pair of NPR reporters who watched both in Italy left with a newfound appreciation for the latter.
Northeast readies for a major winter storm, with blizzard warnings in effect
New Jersey through Massachusetts could see 2 feet of snow. New York City's mayor said the city had not "seen a storm like this in a decade."
Mexican army kills leader of Jalisco New Generation Cartel, official says
The Mexican army killed the leader of the powerful Jalisco New Generation Cartel, Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, "El Mencho," in an operation Sunday, a federal official said.
Ukraine’s combat amputees cling to hope as a weapon of war
Along with a growing number of war-wounded amputees, Mykhailo Varvarych and Iryna Botvynska are navigating an altered destiny after Varvarych lost both his legs during the Russian invasion.
University students hold new protests in Iran around memorials for those killed
Iran's state news agency said students protested at five universities in the capital, Tehran, and one in the city of Mashhad on Sunday.
