MOBILE, Ala. (WKRG) — The Historic Avenue Cultural Center is set to open a new exhibit called ‘Remembering the Avenue’ on Wednesday, Oct. 4 at the old African American Archives building, which was once the Black Library.

The 4-8 p.m. event will start with a ribbon-cutting ceremony followed by festivities, food trucks and music at 564 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Ave.

Rev. Milton Saffold will welcome everyone with an invocation followed by performances from Ancienthangs and Catharsis that Poet.

Jones and others will speak at the event, and the Excelsior Brass Band will play music throughout the night.

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What to expect

The center will feature rotating exhibitions and cultural offerings in support of revitalizing the neighborhood and platforming the community’s most vital and important voices, a news release states.

The Alabama Contemporary Art Center helped with a special “Remembering The Avenue” project. It “will explore not only the history and shared memory of a once thriving community, but seed the potential for new growth and possibility all along Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue — what locals refer to as ‘the Avenue,'” according to a release.

A community effort

To bring life to the center, public historian and first-time curator Jada Jones, with the help of the ACAC’s Guest Curator program, worked with local historians and advocates who lived on then-Davis Avenue and gathered oral histories, written accounts and lived experiences on the avenue.

ACAC will garner local participation in open conversations and celebrations to map the history and the future of historic Davis Avenue through these themes: pride, protest and possibility.