AndoverMagSpring2015

Opposite page: I Am A Man: Memphis SanitationStrike 1968Left: We Are Prepared To Die: Freedom Rides 1961Below: Jeff Howard ’73 ( far left) stands with"Movement to Overcome” exhibit sculptor MichaelPavlovsky ( far right) and museum rigging crew aftermoving the 14-foot sculpture into place.Santosh Dhamat for Howard+Revis Designspent working on the most importantproject of my professional career.”|Simple Fix Morphs intoMassive UndertakingIt was supposed to be a simple “refresh”of the existing exhibit halls. It became areimagining of an institution.Founded in 1991, the National CivilRights Museum was already a historiclandmark among American culturalinstitutions. In 2013, a USA Today pollranked it the third “most iconic sitein America” (behind Graceland andMount Rushmore) and one of the “Top15 places kids should visit by the timethey’re 15.” In 2004, Jeopardy gave themuseum its own category with cluessuch as, “From 1943 to 1956, Rosa Parkswas secretary of her local chapter of thisorganization.” (Answer: the NAACP)With the museum’s 20th anniversaryon the horizon, Director BeverlyRobertson wanted the main exhibitto be modernized. After interviewingsome 20 design firms, she narrowed thepool to a final four, and the firms wentto Memphis to present their ideas to themuseum staff, its board, and the generalpublic. Howard+Revis earned the gigthrough a unique blend of contextualunderstanding and design “wow.” “Thisproject clearly meant something specialto them,” says Robertson. “Sometimesthat’s more important than all the reputationin the world.”Seven months later, Howard and histeam realized their task was far greaterthan anyone had anticipated. “Theresearch we did in our discovery phaseshowed that we needed to start over,”says Howard. “We tore out just abouteverything.”“People no longer wanted to walkthrough a museum and read a book ona wall,” agreed Robertson. “We wantedpeople to be transformed, inspired totake action by the ‘everyday’ peoplewho made this civil rights revolutionpossible. We needed to update thestory, to show the lasting legacy of themovement. Also, we had outgrown ourphysical space and needed to accommodatethe growing numbers of peoplewho were coming to the museum.”| Assembling aCommitted TeamWith their new task before them,Howard+Revis set about assemblinga team of African American scholars,architects, landscape architects, andscript writers to undertake the hardand detailed work of the transformation.“This core part of our team, morethan any other, helped determinethe look, feel, content, and tone ofthe renewed museum,” says Howard.Among the many notable scholarsinvolved were world-renownednon-violence activist Rev. JamesLawson and premier Martin LutherKing Jr. scholar Clayborne Carson.•1991Assistant Director of Athletics Katherine Hendersonstates, “The isolation experienced by gay and lesbianstudents on the PA campus should be a priority issue.”•1992| | A survey shows a discrepancy in the perceptionof gender equality on campus, with 70 percent ofmales believing men and women are treated equallyat Andover, versus only 46 percent of females.•1992| Andover hosts a GSA retreat forstudents of all sexual orientationsfrom across New England.Andover | Spring 201545