(Fountain Corridor stands as one of many oldest buildings of Atlanta College. Picture Credit score: Bria Suggs/The Atlanta Voice)
Morris Brown School introduced it acquired an award from the Nationwide Park Service (NPS) Traditionally Black Schools and Universities Grant Program to start out 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. In-built 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 seemed by way of 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 School, the Buddies of Fountain Corridor, and the Atlanta Department of Affiliation for the Examine of African American Life and Historical past (ASALH) will leverage the NPS HBCU grant to draw matching donations from the bigger company neighborhood for a full accreditation marketing campaign and the total window therapy.
“Fountain Corridor is an iconic image of Morris Brown School,” Morris Brown School president Dr. Kevin James mentioned. “I liken it to power and perseverance. A historic landmark constructed within the 1882 by former slaves. Individuals who have come by way of Morris Brown School are very aware of Fountain Corridor. They took lessons there, that they had chapel there, they joined fraternities and sororities within the constructing. Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois’ workplace was on the second flooring so it’s historic in nature itself
“We couldn’t restore the college 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 beneath work after securing extra funding to help within the restoration. Picture Credit score: Bria Suggs)
Morris Brown School additionally launched the Sturdy Tower Marketing campaign which is designed to match the NPS grant and launched on Labor Day and plans to run by way of the tip 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 school places of work, lecture rooms and a chapel.
“We are going to want the Fountain Corridor for lecture rooms and tutorial companies as we work towards full restoration,” James mentioned in a press launch. “We are going to proceed our purpose of absolutely restoring Fountain Corridor.”
The constructing was transferred to Morris Brown School within the early 1930s and was then renamed from Stone Corridor to Fountain Corridor in honor of former faculty president Bishop William A. Fountain.
In response to 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 may fall sufferer to fireplace.
“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 sit up for having the ability to ‘have chapel’ companies once more, present movies, and host lectures with the neighborhood within the house the place Du Bois assembled leaders yearly from 1896 – 1914, as he labored to search 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 mentioned in a press launch.
The bell was deliberate to be struck to mark this section of restoration however Dr. Tate says that the bell wasn’t struck however shall 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 mentioned. This third grant is to switch 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 start out Atlanta College. That is our historical past and progress in Atlanta of this metropolis too busy to Hate reveals whites and Blacks working collectively. Within the segregated south, this experiment of training occurred on these hallowed grounds.”
Fundraising for the full restoration, estimated at $30M, are ongoing.
“HBCUs have been an necessary a part of the American training system for greater than 180 years, offering high-level lecturers, alternatives, and neighborhood for generations of scholars,” NPS Deputy Director Shawn Benge mentioned in a press launch. “The Nationwide Park Service’s Traditionally Black Schools and Universities Grant Program supplies help to protect noteworthy constructions that honor the previous and inform the continuing story of those historic establishments.”
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