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The Safe House Black History Museum, situated in Greensboro, Alabama, is a non-profit organization established in 2004. Dedicated to preserving the distinctive culture and history of the rural black belt South, the museum actively promotes African American heritage in the realms of arts, mass media, history, and genealogy.

Founding and Mission
The museum was founded in 2002 by Theresa Turner Burroughs. The museum's focus is the grass-roots activism in the rural Black Belt that led to the US civil rights movement.

Early Beginnings
Founded by Mrs. Theresa Burroughs, a prominent figure in the civil rights struggle and acquainted with many of its leaders, the museum focuses on safeguarding the narratives of Greensboro’s rich black history. Spanning from the era of slavery through reconstruction to the civil rights period, this history notably includes Dr. Martin Luther King’s visits to Greensboro. Following one of Dr. King's mass meetings in Greensboro, the residents of the Depot neighborhood played a pivotal role in protecting him from the Klan. They provided refuge for Dr. King in a "safe house" overnight until he could be safely escorted out of town the next morning.

The Safe House Black History Museum, originally two wooden frame shotgun houses adjacent to a narrow city lot in the Depot neighborhood, underwent a transformation in 2011. Under the guidance of architect Samuel Mockbee, Auburn University's Rural Studio completed an iconic concrete and glass walkway named Freedom Lane. This structure connected and preserved the two wooden buildings constructed at the beginning of the 20th century for black cotton gin workers.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered a speech from the bed of a pick-up truck in Greensboro, as no black church in the area would permit a speech drawing attention from the Klan. This incident occurred two weeks before his "Burning House Speech" and the fatal rifle blast that tragically ended his life. The residents of the Depot neighborhood, where the museum is located, sheltered him in the Safe House for the night until he could be safely escorted out of town toward Selma the next morning. The truck bed used during the speech is now on display at the museum. Notably, the 'Greensboro Watchman' disputed Mrs. Burroughs's account of the events.

Location
The Safe House Black History Museum is situated in west central Alabama, within a region commonly referred to as the “Black Belt.” This area earned its name from the once fertile black soil, now turned copper-red due to extensive single-crop cultivation of cotton, which depleted the soil of its rich minerals and dark color. The Black Belt is renowned for its historical significance, housing numerous black churches, antebellum civil war sites, and offering insights into the Mississippian indigenous culture, particularly the Tuscaloosa black warriors. The region's history, once the American South's frontier under Spanish and French rule, is steeped in conflict, folklore, and bloodshed. Specifically, the Museum is located in the Depot neighborhood of the City of Greensboro, Alabama.

Description and Use as a Safe House
The museum is housed in neighboring shotgun houses in Greensboro's Depot neighborhood, homes originally built for employees of a local cotton gin. One of the houses, a three-room structure, was owned by the Burroughs family, who were local activists; Theresa Burroughs had been childhood friends with Coretta Scott King. Martin Luther King, Jr., used it as a safe house on March 21, 1968, while being hunted by the Ku Klux Klan, shortly before his April 4th assassination.

Displays
Displays include a pickup truck from which King gave a speech when local churches were afraid to allow him to speak in their buildings and mugshots of local activists who were arrested in protests and marches during the civil rights era, including the Greensboro marches, Bloody Sunday and the 1965 march from Selma to Montgomery. A desk made for a local landowner by one of the people he enslaved is held in its collection.

Museum programs

 * The Region’s Civil Rights History in Story and Film: With support from the Alabama Humanities Alliance, the Museum has produced two documentaries: “Let Us Give Praise to the Foot Soldiers Who Came Before Us” (2020) and “Let Us Give Praise to the Women Foot Soldiers of Hale County, Alabama” (2022).
 * Videos About Theresa Burroughs, Founder of the Museum: Notable productions include "The Fullness of Time," an interview with Theresa Burroughs by the University of Alabama (2008), a 3-minute animation titled "A More Perfect Union" by The Story Corp, and an interview featured in the 2019 production "Voices of Alabama," a collaboration between the World Monuments Fund and the Alabama African American Civil Rights Heritage Sites Consortium.

Exhibits
The Museum boasts an array of exhibits including mug shots of civil rights foot soldiers from the 1960s, Klan paraphernalia, artifacts from the slavery era, books on the region and civil rights, crafts by local African Americans, modern and vernacular art prints, as well as original sculptures and paintings such as “Book Lady” (2019), “Katrina Woman” (2014), and “Struggle Images.” Additionally, the museum houses genealogy charts tracing the lineage of local Black Belt County families.

Early Black Belt History: Greensboro Timeline

 * 1500 - Chief Tuscaloosa Territory Mound Art
 * 1810 - Vine and Olive French Colony (confluence of cultures)
 * 1821 - The Epicenter of Black Enslavement and Rebellion
 * 1835- Indian Wars and Removal
 * 1861 - U.S. Civil War
 * 1867 – Hale County carved from 4 adjacent counties
 * 1867 - U.S. Freedman Bank Records, Hale County
 * 1867 - Black Reconstruction and White Redemptions
 * 1870 - Black Farmers and Sharecroppers
 * 1927 – Monument of Col. Stephen F Hale - Symbol of the Lost Cause
 * 1901 - Jim Crow to Civil Rights Battleground
 * Hale County Black Churches, and Schools
 * Depot Neighborhood & Cotton Industry
 * 1989 – Community Industrial Corporation incorporated as a 501c3 tax-exempt non-profit corporation in Alabama
 * 2004 – Safe House Black History Museum Incorporated as a 501c3 tax-exempt non-profit corporation in Alabama

Greensboro Antebellum Architecture, Slave Quarters, and Employment Sites

 * Magnolia Grove: A historic Greek Revival mansion now serving as a historic house museum, operated by the Alabama Historical Commission.
 * Greensboro Opera House: Built in 1903, this structure replaced an earlier opera house destroyed by fire. It housed retail stores on the ground floor and a theater with offices on the upper levels.
 * Greensboro Presbyterian Church: Dating back to 1823, this church's present building incorporates the slave quarter section, preserving a tangible link to the area's history.

Recognition
In 2010 Auburn University's Rural Studio selected the museum as a project for architecture students. The buildings were renovated and their exteriors restored to their original style, and a covered gallery was built to connect them. In 2018 it was one of twenty Alabama sites important to civil rights history to be placed on the World Monument Fund's watch list.

Funding
As of 2021 the museum operated on a $15,000 annual budget, had a volunteer executive director, and was open by appointment. Funding comes from donations, grants, admissions fees, and gift shop sales. As of 2024 funders included the Alabama Humanities Alliance, and the Alabama African American Civil Rights Heritage Sites Consortium.