The National Center for Civil and Human Rights (NCCHR) was founded in Georgia’s capital city by Shirley Franklin, Atlanta’s first African American woman mayor. It was designed by Phil Freelon, founder of The Freelon Group, and opened to the public in 2014. The Freelon Group was acquired by Perkins&Will that same year. Freelon died five years later, in 2019.
Today, the NCCHR houses the original manuscript of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech and other Civil Rights Movement ephemera. A recent $58 million expansion to the NCCHR by Perkins&Will, Cooper Carry, and ATELIER BRÜCKNER affords the institution new and improved exhibition spaces.
NCCHR has two new wings attached to the original building that cumulatively total 28,733 square feet. Its Human Rights Gallery—dedicated to telling the stories of refugees and other oppressed peoples—has been upgraded and coalesces near a new Activation Lab, a space where visitors can design personal civic engagement plans.
The new east wing will host conferences, corporate retreats, weddings, milestone celebrations, and community gatherings. There, visitors can enjoy roof access and gaze out at the city beyond.
The extension is clad in bronze panels similar to the original volume completed in 2014 by Freelon. It tapers upward, much like the exterior glass and steel fountain by artist Larry Kirkland, featuring engraved texts by Nelson Mandela, Margaret Mead, and Dr. King.
With the extension, designed by Perkins&Will, the NCCHR can accommodate an estimated 250,000 annual visitors. Cooper Carry’s Experiential Graphic Design Studio and ATELIER BRÜCKNER were the exhibition designers.
And, indeed, the timing couldn’t be better.
Set against the backdrop of crackdowns at the Smithsonian Institution over alleged “divisive” and “improper” narratives, and the defunding of museums and schools nationwide, the NCCHR affirms it will stay the course and continue the work of its forbears, who faced similar adversity to progress.
Dr. Bernice King, the youngest child of Coretta Scott King and Dr. King, is the inaugural curator of a gallery entirely devoted to her father.
Elsewhere at NCCHR, the Without Sanctuary collection and a memorial by artist Lonnie Holley speak to Reconstruction after the U.S. Civil War. Another gallery exhibits Black Southern artists active in the 1980s who confronted white supremacy and built solidarity.
Jill Savitt, NCCHR president and CEO, said in a statement: “Our reopening arrives at a pivotal moment. The [NCCHR] exists to show how history speaks to the present. With these new galleries and spaces, we can offer not just stories of the past, but pathways for people to reflect, engage, and shape the future.”
“American history has never been a straight road. It has always been a dialogue between progress and pushback, between our highest ideals and forces that resist them,” Savitt added. “This expansion gives us new ways to share those stories with integrity, and to remind people that all of us can help bend the arc toward justice.”
Savitt touted the women-led design and development team. “This expansion carries the imprint of women’s leadership at every stage,” she said. “From our founder Shirley Franklin to our exhibit design, construction, and curation, women have shaped this expansion with care and vision.”
Perkins&Will recently completed another project involving Phil Freelon, the North Carolina Freedom Park in Raleigh, North Carolina. The public space features architecture inspired by civil leader and activist Lyda Moore Merrick.
In April 2026, at NCCHR, a new gallery for children under 12 years old will open to the public, which center officials call “a secret headquarters for change agents with interactive activities that build civic skills and curiosity about justice.”