The Alabama Court of Civil Appeals has upheld a lower court ruling in a years-long legal battle over the rightful leadership of the Safe House Black History Museum in Greensboro, siding with the board led by Louis Burroughs Jr. and affirming its authority to govern the historic institution.
The unanimous decision, issued May 9 and certified May 27, 2025, rejected an appeal filed by Toni Love, a former trustee and board member, who had sought to challenge the legitimacy of the current board. Love is the daughter of Safe House museum founder, the late Theresa Burroughs. Love alleged that Burroughs, Marlene Burroughs, and Theresa Davis had improperly assumed control without following the museum’s bylaws.
But the court found no evidence that their election violated the bylaws or that a quorum was lacking at the 2018 meeting where they were voted in. The appeals court also cited the longstanding legal principle that courts will not interfere with the internal affairs of voluntary associations absent fraud or egregious misconduct.
“We find no fault with the trial court’s decision to adhere as closely as possible to this maxim,” the court wrote in its unpublished memorandum decision. The ruling affirmed the trial court’s judgment that the “Burroughs board” was the lawful governing body and that Love could, if she wished, be restored to her position on that board.
In a letter dated June 26, the board’s attorney requested the release of museum funds held in the court’s custody since the case began, signaling that the matter is now legally closed.
Board President Louis B. Burroughs Jr. issued a press release on June 30, stating that “the leadership of the current board is no longer in question.”
“Despite the four-year interruption caused by this case,” Burroughs wrote, “the current board, along with its current executive director, places the Museum on a solid legal foundation for the future.”
Burroughs also reaffirmed the museum’s mission, stating that it would continue to give “Greensboro and the Museum national and worldwide recognition, as well as new perspectives about the history of African Americans in the Alabama Black Belt.”
The Safe House Black History Museum, located on West Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, was the site where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. took shelter from the Ku Klux Klan in 1968.
