(Fountain Corridor stands as one of many oldest buildings of Atlanta College. Picture Credit score: Bria Suggs/The Atlanta Voice)
Morris Brown Faculty introduced it acquired an award from the Nationwide Park Service (NPS) Traditionally Black Schools and Universities Grant Program to begin the restoration of the historic Fountain Corridor.
The restoration additionally consists of two stained glass home windows honoring Atlanta College’s Founder Reverend E. A. Ware and his spouse Jane Twichwell Ware. Inbuilt 1882, the then Stone Corridor, was the third oldest constructing on the Atlanta College campus. The late Black mental, professor and creator Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois’ workplace was in Fountain Corridor. Legend has it he appeared by the home windows towards downtown Atlanta as he penned “The Souls of Black Folks (1903).” Du Bois additionally wrote “A Litany of Atlanta” (October, 1906) instantly following the 1906 Atlanta Race Bloodbath, which is able to commemorate the 115th Remembrance September 22-25, 2021.
Morris Brown Faculty, the Mates of Fountain Corridor, and the Atlanta Department of Affiliation for the Research of African American Life and Historical past (ASALH) will leverage the NPS HBCU grant to draw matching donations from the bigger company group for a full accreditation marketing campaign and the total window remedy.
“Fountain Corridor is an iconic image of Morris Brown Faculty,” Morris Brown Faculty president Dr. Kevin James stated. “I liken it to energy and perseverance. A historic landmark constructed within the 1882 by former slaves. Individuals who have come by Morris Brown Faculty are very conversant in Fountain Corridor. They took courses there, they’d chapel there, they joined fraternities and sororities within the constructing. Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois’ workplace was on the second ground so it’s historic in nature itself
“We couldn’t restore the varsity with out restoring that constructing,” he continued. “We’re simply very very excited to be working with Dr. Tate and others elevating cash to revive the constructing. This subsequent set of funds is to revive the home windows, we simply put a brand new roof on the constructing. We needed to maintain additional deterioration from occurring so we put a brand new roof on simply to seal it up. A brand new clock, a brand new bell, all of these items. We’re excited for the alumni to see that we’re making progress on that constructing and we’re very very enthusiastic about it.”
(Fountain Corridor is actively below work after securing extra funding to assist within the restoration. Picture Credit score: Bria Suggs)
Morris Brown Faculty additionally launched the Robust Tower Marketing campaign which is designed to match the NPS grant and launched on Labor Day and plans to run by the top of Black Historical past Month. The story of the clock tower stays a outstanding constructing on the unique campus of Atlanta College because it was constructed on a hill between Gaines Corridor and South Corridor, housing college workplaces, lecture rooms and a chapel.
“We’ll want the Fountain Corridor for lecture rooms and educational providers as we work towards full restoration,” James stated in a press launch. “We’ll proceed our aim of absolutely restoring Fountain Corridor.”
The constructing was transferred to Morris Brown Faculty within the early 1930s and was then renamed from Stone Corridor to Fountain Corridor in honor of former faculty president Bishop William A. Fountain.
Based on the web site fountainhallatl.org, the tower had been boarded up and unused since 2003 and has since fallen sufferer to vandalism and intrusion of climate. Lack of repairs has additionally resulted in a compromised construction and if it stays unattended it might fall sufferer to fireside.
“The stained-glass home windows gracing the Dr. Viola J. Hill Chapel space of Fountain Corridor have been a present of an alumni class, and we stay up for with the ability to ‘have chapel’ providers once more, present movies, and host lectures with the group within the house the place Du Bois assembled leaders yearly from 1896 – 1914, as he labored to seek out options on the Atlanta Convention of Negro Issues,” Dr. R. Sweet Tate, creator of the grant and chair of the Hallowed Grounds Committee of the Atlanta Department of ASALH stated in a press launch.
The bell was deliberate to be struck to mark this part of restoration however Dr. Tate says that the bell wasn’t struck however can be throughout Morris Brown’s Homecoming festivities.
Tate has managed to jot down sufficient profitable grants to contribute $1.5 million to the trigger with three grants.
“It’s the entire constructing,” Tate stated. This third grant is to exchange the home windows and the stained glass home windows within the chapel have devoted home windows to E.A. Ware and his spouse Jane who have been each white missionaries from Yale who got here to begin Atlanta College. That is our historical past and progress in Atlanta of this metropolis too busy to Hate exhibits whites and Blacks working collectively. Within the segregated south, this experiment of training occurred on these hallowed grounds.”
Fundraising for the overall restoration, estimated at $30M, are ongoing.
“HBCUs have been an vital a part of the American training system for greater than 180 years, offering high-level lecturers, alternatives, and group for generations of scholars,” NPS Deputy Director Shawn Benge stated in a press launch. “The Nationwide Park Service’s Traditionally Black Schools and Universities Grant Program supplies help to protect noteworthy buildings that honor the previous and inform the continued story of those historic establishments.”
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