In 1993, The F.W. Woolworth’s store, the site of the infamous Greensboro sit-ins during the 60s, finally closed. The then current County Commissioner and a City Council member proposed to purchase the site in hopes of turning it into a Civil Rights Museum. Up until early this year, they were still “under construction/renovation” with no announced opening or finishing date. They had apparently seemed to be having financial difficulties as they had expressed the need for approximately 19 million more dollars to complete the project. They had already received millions of dollars in donations and requests for additional money via taxpayers had been denied twice. There have been complaints about transparency concerning government money allocation and spending among the board overseeing the museum. These factors were important in the electoral defeats. I remember speaking to some of the citizens living in Greensboro that donated to the museum. They expressed anger at the fact that the City of Greensboro had done nothing to further address this issue. Students and citizens have forgotten the rich Civil Rights history of Greensboro, and right before their eyes they were being taken advantage of and robbed of their understanding of history. There has been an astounding lack of student involvement and support in the construction of the International Civil Rights Museum in Greensboro. The museum is now, as of early January 2009, back on track to being completed in February of 2010, as they are now partnering with Smithsonian.

Ignite Greensboro is a student run, led and built project that was founded to raise awareness for the museum and center, the city of Greensboro, as well as money for the following purposes: scholarships, community building projects, speaker engagements and a specific intergenerational gift to the museum. Our goal and purpose is to get as many students involved and aware of the culture and history of Greensboro and get involved in many different avenues. We have an oral history documentary that we are working on, a black and white photographic interpretation project we are working on, and a benefit concert series for next year as well. Students have an opportunity to get involved in any of these areas, promising them a chance to learn more about this wonderful city.

The goals of Ignite Greensboro are to effectively canvass and raise money for the International Civil Rights Museum from the broad community of students and friends [community residents] in Greensboro, by means of implementing shareholderships as a way to memorialize the movement and symbolically own parts of the history of Greensboro and the International Civil Rights Museum. This project aims to stir up excitement about the arrival of the museum as well as breed a new air of activism and dedication to the community and beyond by building relationships between students, institutions and society. Lastly, the goal of this project is to establish unity within the Greensboro community through a diverse and cohesive project directed to drive commonalities and engage the future generation of leaders. This project will be implemented through canvassing the community and the 7 surrounding Colleges and Universities and will thrive through the support and advice of the Mayor, community leaders and Higher Education Institutions. It is only through the growing number and commitment of diverse volunteers and representatives, will this project succeed. The Ignite Greensboro [got two?] Project will effectively use the raised funds to bring speakers from international, national and local stages into the city of Greensboro to educate students and relate their experiences with the Civil Rights Movement to the lives of the generations that they hope to inspire as well as the generations that they hope will exist in the future. This will in turn, educate the community while allowing students [middle school, high school and college], community residents and community leaders to have access to such resources for free [accepting donations of $2]. These speakers will be yearly or bi-yearly depending upon the amount of money raised, and the events will be heavily publicized. The raised funds will be contributed to the International Civil Rights Museum in the form of an intergenerational gift. There will be a student board overseeing the allocation of funds for speakers as well as a faculty/community/museum board with the same responsibilities. These speakers will aim to reach the young students to tell them the dreams that they had as young citizens within the movement. Part of the money raised will go to the museum itself, part to bringing speakers from the national, international and local stage into the city of Greensboro. Part of the money will go scholarships that will serve four brackets: Elementary, Middle School, High School and College students. Contests will be enacted, and there will be an art entity and an essay entity. All will have to deal with the history of Greensboro. An annual celebratory gala will ensue. The last part of the funds we raise will go to fund service efforts that we take part in for years to come.

Visit www.ignitegreensboro.org for up to date events!!