Montgomery embarks on effort to document civil rights sites

Researchers in Montgomery are in the midst of recording the city’s civil rights history in a new way.

Three archaeologists and an architect are wearing yellow vests and carrying iPads. They’re snapping pictures and recording information about every structure built before 1969.

It’s part of a two-week effort, when Paleowest Archaeology will comb through 2,500 structures in west Montgomery neighborhoods to identify culturally significant buildings, histories and landmarks related to the struggle for civil rights.

Once the data is compiled, a historian and researcher will comb through the information to provide a complete history of the culturally significant neighborhoods, The Montgomery Advertiser reported.

“Montgomery has a rich civil rights history,” Robert Smith, planning director for the city, told the newspaper. “The city does not have a comprehensive document of that civil rights history.”

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“This is a great project that the city of Montgomery envisioned and applied for a grant to support,” Duggins said. “We see ourselves as the worker bees out in the urban core documenting the structures.”

The completed history will also help direct future grant applications for repairs, give guidance to private owners in the area and build a more complete map of the city’s historic sites, Smith said.