OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — The Oklahoma City Council approved final plans for the $17.2 million Clara Luper Civil Rights Center on Tuesday, a new interpretive center and community gathering space funded through MAPS 4.

Named in honor of Clara Luper, an educator and pioneering civil rights leader, the center will celebrate Luper’s legacy in leading her students in non-violent demonstrations that desegregated hundreds of establishments across Oklahoma during the 1950s and 60s. She also served as a longtime advisor for Oklahoma City’s NAACP Youth Council.

“In 2019, with the passage of MAPS 4, we resolved as a community to share our city’s civil rights story with future generations through the creation of the Clara Luper Civil Rights Center,” Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt said. “The ensuing years have brought important planning to ensure this facility will be a success. Upon its opening, the Clara Luper Civil Rights Center will preserve our civil rights history that changed our city forever, it will inspire us to continue building a better city, and it will make a new investment in the heart of Northeast OKC.”

The new 17,694-square-foot facility will feature exhibitions that highlight Oklahoma’s civil rights history, along with classrooms, an event hall for youth activities, public programs, and community gatherings.

Visitors to the center will experience a blend of indoor and outdoor storytelling elements, such as projections on the building’s exterior and public artwork that is funded by the City’s 1% for Art ordinance. The City is currently accepting proposals from artists interested in contributing to the project.

The Freedom Center of Oklahoma City, a nonprofit organization, will operate the new facility.

“We are thrilled to move forward with development of the Clara Luper Civil Rights Center as an educational, community, and tourism resource in the heart of northeast Oklahoma City,” Freedom Center of Oklahoma City Executive Director Christina Beatty said. “Together, the historic Freedom Center building and the new construction will create a beautiful, pedestrian-friendly five-acre campus spanning two and a half blocks that celebrates Oklahoma’s civil rights history indoors and out.”

The Center will be built just south of the historic Freedom Center building at North Martin Luther King Avenue and Northeast 24th Street. The building was founded by Luper in 1967 to keep youth involved following the success of the Sit-In Movement.

The Freedom Center served as the headquarters for the NAACP Youth Council for over 40 years and was designated as an historic landmark in 2018 by the Oklahoma City Historic Preservation Commission.

Construction on the Clara Luper Civil Rights Center is expected to begin in the summer, with the building scheduled to open sometime in 2027.