A new exhibit featuring Civil Rights-era photographs and representing a collaboration between Troy University’s Rosa Parks Museum and students from That’s My Child will open Jan. 16.

The exhibit, “2020 Visions of Civil Rights,” is made possible through the Museum’s partnerships with the Alabama Department of Archives and History, the Alabama Power Foundation and Gisele C. Shorter, Ed.D. An opening reception will begin at 6 p.m. in the museum’s gallery, and is free and open to the public.

Members of the museum’s staff have worked with students from That’s My Child, an organization whose mission is to mentor youth through arts, education and entrepreneurship while providing them a safe place to develop talents and skills needed to become tomorrow’s productive citizens. The organization was founded in 2012 by Montgomery resident Charles Lee.

As a part of the Museum’s Junior Curator program, students selected photographs and documents for display, and researched and wrote labels for each piece.

Through these images, the Junior Curators display the two opposing sides of the Civil Rights Movement, and how teenagers in present-day Montgomery are affected by actions from the past. During the Civil Rights Movement, youth involvement was crucial to ensuring protests were able to succeed and gain national attention. The exhibit revolves around themes of social justice from the past, as well as the present.

“The Junior Curator Program is an incredible opportunity for students to have an immersive experience while learning about the museum profession,” said Dr. Felicia Bell, the museum’s director. “Throughout the program, the students work as a team to research and develop the exhibition. At the same, they are exposed to various careers and ways in which these professionals make museums so successful.”

Light refreshments will be provided by That’s My Dog Jr., America’s first teen-operated restaurant that provides employment opportunities for Montgomery area youth, and Cahawba House.