The Safe House Black History Museum’s Board of Directors has named Reverend Kervin Jones its new Executive Director.
Jones is a lifelong resident of Akron, Alabama, in Hale County. His background as a special education teacher, director of a prison mission program, and pastor of the Church of God in Greensboro, Alabama, combined with his deep passion for art and uncovering the history of Alabama’s Black Belt and the many contributions of its African American citizens in their struggle for freedom and justice, will help to further advance the mission of the Museum that will celebrate its 20th anniversary in October. “We are thrilled to welcome Kervin as our new Executive Director,” says Louis Burroughs, Safe House Black History Museum Board of Directors President. “He will bring experience, enthusiasm, great communication skills and a fresh air to our organization. We feel very lucky to have found him and look forward to a successful and invigorating future with him at the helm.”
When Jones assumes the role August1, he will manage all day-to-day operations for Greensboro’s only black history museum. He will also lead fundraising programs, as well as marketing and community engagement initiatives. Jones will represent the Museum in the Alabama African American Civil Rights Heritage Sites Consortium, Inc., a collaboration among 20 historic places that played significant roles in the African American struggle for freedom.
“As a native of Hale County, I’m thrilled to lead one of Alabama’s most significant civil rights museums and help bring this community jewel to a broader audience,” says Jones.
Jones will succeed Theresa Davis, a Museum board member, who assumed the role of Executive Director in 2018 prior to the passing of Museum founder Theresa Burroughs. Under her leadership, the Museum developed a volunteer team to carry out tours and programming at the Museum, produced the “Let Us Praise the Foot Soldiers of the Civil Rights Movement” documentary, and worked with the board to make major capital improvements in the Museum facility, including insulation and a new HVAC system. The Board of Directors is grateful to Ms. Davis for the transitional role she played in moving the Museum from leadership by the original founders to a newly constituted organization to meet the challenges of today.
Known as the location where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was provided a safehouse from the Ku Klux Klan following his participation in a mass meeting at St. Mathew’s Church in Greensboro two weeks before his assassination in Memphis on April 4, 1968.
Its focus is on the many men, women, and youth who were the foot soldiers of the civil rights movement in Hale County, Selma, and the Alabama Black Belt.
