Save Atlanta's Friendship!

Dear Atlanta Friends -

I want to share a petition I'm launching today to try and save Friendship Baptist Church from destruction. I'm very new to this, and really don't know how to go about trying to preserve anything. - so any help you can offer on this issue would be great.

I'm hoping that since Friendship is included in the National Register of Historic Places, it might be somehow protected from demolition, but I don't know.

I'm working on a music video about Friendship today, that I hope to post up on YouTube to reach a broader audience, as I really think this site is a treasure not just for Atlanta, but the nation. Hope others agree! Anyway - I'll end with a link to the petition. Please read it, sign it, and share it if you'd like!

Also - a little more about Friendship and why we should save it.

Thanks for all the good you do - and any help you might have to offer for Friendship!

Sincerely,

Molly

http://www.change.org/petitions/atlanta-city-council-members-save-atlanta-s-friendship

Atlanta has a unique story to tell at Friendship Baptist Church.

A rare Atlanta landmark on the National Registry of Historic Places, Friendship Baptist Church should be preserved and protected as a site for future generations to learn about the history of the fight for civil rights in America.

Founded in 1866 by former slaves, Friendship was home to the first African-American Baptist congregation in Atlanta, and is considered the "Mother Church" of nine other houses of worship.

Too poor to afford a church building, the first congregants of Friendship met in a donated boxcar, which they shared as a classroom space with African-American students seeking a higher education. Atlanta University, Morehouse, and Spelman, now part of the largest consortium of historically black colleges and universities in the U.S., all trace their beginnings back to Friendship.

Friendship offers a unique view of how Atlanta's historically black churches and schools played a key role in the quest for civil and human rights in America.

We, the undersigned, ask Atlanta City Council Members to do everything in their power to stop the destruction of Friendship Baptist Church and any other historical landmarks in downtown Atlanta that are slated to be destroyed to make way for the proposed publicly funded Falcons stadium. Demolition of these treasures unique to our city should not be allowed to proceed unless and until the legality of the stadium deal is confirmed, and the financial viability of the proposal is proven, and council members can clearly show how destroying these inspiring and irreplaceable Atlanta landmarks is in the best interests of the people of Atlanta, and the world.