The National Civil Rights Museum expanded its mission beyond its walls Saturday with the opening of Founders Park, a new BlueCross Healthy Place. Museum leaders, city and state officials, and representatives from BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee stood before the crowd to mark a milestone of collaboration where the museum’s legacy, corporate partnership and community vision intersected to create a space devoted to physical and mental well-being.
“Every season brings new reasons for people to come together and talk about how to build a better future,” said BlueCross spokesperson John Hawbaker. “That’s one of the reasons we’ve been proud from the very beginning to work with the museum.”
Before the ribbon was cut, children from the community gathered around the stage in a symbolic reminder of the next generation who will one day shape the conversations that happen in this space.
As the ribbon fell, Kool & The Gang’s “Celebrate” signaled it was time to enjoy the park. Across the grounds, visitors joined in line dancing, eating, exploring and walking up the steps to the Legacy Terrace for a view of Room 306, the balcony where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. lost his life.
“It’s an incredible view,” said Hawbaker. “When we began this journey, we knew this space had to honor the past while inviting reflection on what it means to build a better community. That’s what Founders Park represents.”
The park, one of 28 BlueCross Healthy Places across Tennessee and one of three in Memphis, offers an outdoor sanctuary for movement, mindfulness and meaning. Seating areas and open lawns invite rest, conversation and contemplation.
For Erica Griggs, a museum member, the opening felt like a full-circle moment. “I was here for the groundbreaking,” she said. “So often there are announcements about what’s coming and then things stop. I needed to see with my own eyes what they actually did. And it’s good to see this really happen.”
But for Griggs, joy is tempered by reflection. “In light of the occupation happening in the city this week, this opening is bittersweet,” she said, referring to local protests and the heightened presence of state and federal law enforcement and the National Guard in the city as part of the Memphis Safe Task Force.
“Fifty-some years ago, the National Guard was here after Dr. King was assassinated. To be here today celebrating this beautiful park and to think about that is another example of the bittersweet, which is so much a part of Memphis’ history. But it’s what makes opening this space so important,” Griggs added.
Nearby, Maurio Walker sat with his children, eating popsicles and playing on Legacy Terrace. “I wanted my kids to feel what it’s like to be a part of a community, to be part of something powerful like this opening,” Walker said.
“I told my kids about the significance of this place and that even though something tragic happened here, out of it we rise,” he stated. “We need something positive happening right now, and we should enjoy it.”
Among the crowd, few stories captured the spirit of the day like that of Antonio Tirado, the architectural project manager for the park.
His journey began generations earlier when his mother left Mexico. One of nine children, she arrived in Memphis seeking greater opportunities. “My mother came here because she wanted her children to have a better life,” he said. “She worked hard so that I could get a good education for myself.”
Tirado was born in Memphis and became the first in his family to graduate from middle school, high school and college. As a boy, he often visited the National Civil Rights Museum, never imagining he would one day help shape the space surrounding it.
“I thought I was going to be a mason laying bricks like my father,” he said. “When he introduced me to architecture, I realized it was another way to stay with the business, but I could be the one designing the buildings, and I thought that was a really good thing.”
That realization led him to the University of Memphis, where he earned his master’s degree in architecture. He joined Self+Tucker Architects, the firm that designed Founders Park.
“Seven years later, I had the opportunity to be the project manager for this project,” he said while looking across Legacy Terrace at his mother and family enjoying the park he helped create.
Tirado sees Founders Park as a testament to his heritage, his family’s perseverance and his mother’s dream.
“This park is important for the Latino community,” he said. “It’s a safe space for us to gather and for people to voice their opinions. For me, standing here today means everything.”
From the Legacy Terrace to the open lawns, Founders Park stands as a reminder that healing and progress often begin in shared spaces where people of different backgrounds can reflect on how to build the future Dr. King and others envisioned.
Environmentalists Paul and Cynthia Klein stood listening to African drummer Ekpe and looking toward Lorraine Motel Room 306. Paul Klein called Dr. King an environmentalist as he reflected on the purpose of the sanitation workers’ strike. Cynthia Klein gave her husband’s words a spiritual connotation.
“These spaces where you find the hallowed spirit are important,” she said. “This is holy ground. May it be a rock when we are dust in the wind.”
