Human rights leaders and government officials broke ground in Atlanta on a civil rights center. The National Center for Civil and Human Rights will be a hub for human rights topics and is expected to boost tourism.

Groundbreaking for what will be an 18,000 square foot exhibit center which will house the papers of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, a gallery focusing on lynching and numerous civil and human rights exhibitions.

The center will be located in downtown Atlanta next to Centennial Olympic Park and the World of Coke. It is expected to add 600 jobs and attract 400,000 visitors a year. Atlanta resident Shauna Davis says the groundbreaking is monumental for Georgia—and for the nation:

“It really sets the tone for a commitment to civil and human rights in our country and what better place to do it but the birthplace of the civil right movement, Atlanta?”

Constance Curry is on the Board of Directors for the new center. She says they are planning to connect it with a nearby institution of Civil Rights history—the King Center.

“Atlanta has so many people who come visit, tourists who come here, we hope to have a relationship with the King Center. We may have some way to connect it by bus, or some kind of transportation.”

The Center is under a phased construction and funding plan. It will open in the spring of 2014.

Tags: parker wallace, National Center for Civil and Human Rights, groundbreaking