Today I visited another amazing museum. I’ll be honest I didn’t have high expectations after the Legacy Sites in Montgomery. After visiting so many civil rights museums, I do really enjoy seeing the different ways of presenting information and the power and impact those messages can make.

This museum decided to address human rights, in addition to, civil rights. Upon entry, the civil rights section was really crowded so I decided to go upstairs and do the human rights section first. I’ll admit I got emotional almost immediately. This museum leads with powerful stories and shares how average, ordinary people took risks to promote human rights. The exhibit “A Mile in My Shoes” was particularly powerful as I listened to personal stories of complete strangers. Each story is linked to a real pair of shoes worn by the person you’re listening to. This delivery really humanizes their experiences.

The second floor also housed the Action Lab. Of course, I’m incredibly action oriented and so this exhibit definitely struck me. The visitor learns about a variety of issues and causes, and then is given ways to find resources and opportunities to be involved with that cause.

Downstairs is focused on civil rights. There was a ton of information, pictures, videos, and other multimedia that presented details about civil rights. For example, there was a full sized depiction of the Freedom Riders bus with all the pictures of the Freedom Riders. You could pick up a phone and listen to their stories. There was also 1,100 books from Dr. Martin Luther King’s personal library. And two quilts from Gee’s Bend!

But the most powerful thing in this museum was the lunch counter sit-in. Museum visitors are invited to sit at the lunch counter with a menu in front of them and place headphones over their ears, close their eyes and place their hands on the lunch counter. Audio begins and depicts what folks at the lunch counter heard and experienced. The sound quality of the audio was really amazing. I could literally hear somebody breathing in my right ear. I felt that there was somebody right behind me and the screaming was truly scary. The audio lasted one minute and 25 seconds and mimics being at the lunch counter. It is an experience I will not forget. And it really showed me how courageous the college students were that sat at these lunch counters.

There are so many layers to this museum and I loved how it coupled civil rights with human rights. If you’re in Atlanta definitely visit this museum.