On Nov. 19, Calinda Lee began her new role as head of programs and exhibitions at the National Center for Civil and Human Rights. This is a new position created to focus on the center’s mission of exploring the fundamental rights of all human beings.
Inspiring and empowering people to use their reflections on the past to create equity and fairness in the present is at the heart of the organization.
“City Lights” host Lois Reitzes spoke with Lee about her aspirations and vision for the new role.
Before joining the Center for Civil and Human Rights, Lee was the vice president of historical interpretation and community partnerships at the Atlanta History Center. In her time there, she brought more African American stories and visitors to the establishment.
“While I was there, I was very anxious to ensure that the interpretation, that the stories that we were telling, that the history that we were sharing was more reflective of the people who, in fact, inhabit this space,” said Lee.
She hopes to bring this knowledge and experience to her new role.
Interview Highlights
On her new duties in this position:
“I’ll be focusing on all things mission. Making sure that the stories we share from a museum perspective are accurate and feel relevant and are stories in which people can find resonance that makes sense to them. They can feel related to them, even if they’re separated by thousands of miles and even hundreds of years,” said Lee.
She continued, “Beyond the walls of the museum space, I want to help people to come to understand this institution in a broader frame. We have a huge educational mission, and that extends to people who walk through the doors of the museum or who never do so. We have a mission around teaching people about civil and human rights and how to engage with them in an ethical and forward-thinking, community, progressed-focused way.”
On the goal of the National Center for Civil and Human Rights:
“We hope to teach people about the past and even contemporary conversations, contemporary issues around civil and human rights. In order to inspire them and find the change maker inside themselves,” said Lee.
Exhibitions currently on display:
“We currently have ‘The King Papers’ on display. We have a partnership with Morehouse College to display a portion of ‘The King Papers.’ That exhibition rotates. When you come back time-to-time, you see different letters, you see different photographs, you see different memorabilia. We have a cornerstone exhibition that explores the civil rights movement. And when I say that, I say this kind of short civil rights movement. So you will see images, information, have interactives and have an opportunity to engage in some play, look at technology and hear sounds and film from that movement,” said Lee.
She continued, “We also have an exhibition that focuses on human rights in a global context. What are human rights anyway? What work has been done and continues to be done to make sure that all people really have access to the rights that they are innately born with? And who are some people we need to keep in mind as folks who have been advancing this cause? It also pushes into a consideration of whose human rights may be violated that we may not be aware of or certainly not aware that we may be complicit in.”
More information about future and virtual exhibitions can be found here.
