Finding Inspiration for a Civil Rights Museum

The National Center for Civil and Human Rights in Atlanta, which opens to the public on June 23, is one of several new museums in the South dedicated to civil rights.

To David Rockwell, the president of the Rockwell Group, which designed its exhibition spaces, the center stands out because it aims to capture the experience of Jim Crow South rather than just collect artifacts from it.

“It’s about creating a sense of that world, and immersing yourself in it,” he said.

To do so, though, he looked at many an artifact when he toured Atlanta and museums in other parts of the country...