By Christopher Audain, Ambitio US Program Officer
During the early morning hours of Monday, April 28, a fire consumed Historic Clayborn Temple. The Memphis Fire Department called in the Department of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) to investigate the suspicious nature of the fire, and on May 21, investigators confirmed that it was intentionally set . Despite containment of the fire within an hour, devastating damage occurred that destroyed the inside of the building. Two days after the fire, on Wednesday, April 30, the east wall of the building collapsed after a storm brought in strong winds, according to the Memphis Fire Department. “Tragically, the fire destroyed the painstakingly crafted stained-glass windows that were unveiled in 2023 as a highlight of a $6 million renovation campaign organized by Historic Clayborn Temple, the nonprofit overseeing the church. Instead of traditional religious scenes, the windows featured portraits of Sanitation Striker Larry Payne; labor leader T.O. Jones of AFSCME Local 1733, which won the right to represent the sanitation workers in 1968; activist Cornelia Crenshaw; civil rights leader James Lawson; and Maxine Smith, longtime Memphis school board members of NAACP leader” (John Beifuss, The Commercial Appeal ).
On a call with funders on Friday, May 2, Anasa Troutman — the Founder and CEO of the BIG We, which manages Historic Clayborn Temple — shared that the Temple fire was actually the third fire she had experienced in as many weeks . Three weeks before the Temple fire, in the early hours of the morning, a fire (now deemed suspicious by authorities) destroyed her home. A parcel of land in Eastern Tennessee that she owns also caught fire during that time period. Anasa hired security for herself and for other properties she owns in Memphis (including the birthplace of Aretha Franklin).
Anasa continues to demonstrate resilient leadership through the tragedy, organizing her team, the community, funders, and supporters of the historic site from across the country. They have already launched a campaign, “Reimagining Historic Clayborn Temple,” to fill the immediate needs of the physical building, as well as costs related to safety and security, legal counsel, messaging and communications, and health and wellness for the team (just to name a few). Ambitio US has reached out to our networks of funder colleagues and to our allied network at Solidaire to see what additional resources can be brought to bear for this important catalytic organization. While the exact circumstances surrounding the fire are still uncertain, the act of burning a church is certainly a very public symbol of the ongoing Civil Rights struggle, both past and present. It has historical resonance and will be a harbinger for whether our collective movement has the resilience, capacity, and courage to support building new economies that work for cultural communities under threat, which will, in turn, benefit us all.
At the end of May, Anasa and the team at The BIG We hosted a convening in Memphis that brought together philanthropic leaders, local stakeholders, national preservation experts, and movement builders. The late afternoon community event was emotional and inspirational, with strong local leadership present, including from the fire and police departments, elected officials, funders, and a strong media presence. The overall mood was hopeful and optimistic for rebuilding. The goal of the convening was to have a day of visioning collective action to “commemorate the past, and begin to chart a path forward — one that ensures the historic institution rises again with the resources, infrastructure, and imagination needed to serve the Memphis community for decades to come,” explained Anasa in an email invitation. I attended the convening with Ambitio US Program Director Cate Fox, as we saw an opportunity to reflect, make meaning, and strategize about what is needed for Historic Clayborn Temple and potentially for other allied projects all over the United States.
Efforts to reopen Historic Clayborn Temple will be supported by a $1.5 million grant in a joint effort from the Ford Foundation, Mellon Foundation, and the National Trust for Historic Preservation (NTHP) . Brent Leggs, Executive Director of the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund at NTHP, broke the news of the grant and underscored the national organization’s support for healing and rebuilding efforts. NTHP deemed Historic Clayborn Temple a National Treasure in 2018. Last week, on July 17, Congress approved $3.15 million for the restoration of Historic Clayborn Temple through the Transportation and Housing, and Urban Development (THUD) subcommittee. We hope these support funds catalyze efforts for additional funding to accelerate the reopening. CCI, Ambitio US contributed to the early support efforts as well with a $150,000 general operating grant.
The rapid response is not a coincidence or simply people responding quickly to a tragedy. It is the result of the momentum Anasa and her team are building. The Temple, an important Civil Rights site, was in the process of being restored to both tell the history of the Sanitation Worker Strike of 1968 and to serve as a neighborhood anchor with programming that covers the arts, workforce development, solidarity economics, and everything in between. It was a gathering place where community members would periodically come together to talk about the future of Memphis. Anasa understands that Historic Clayborn Temple will only be successful if it is surrounded by locally-owned businesses, and neighbors are not displaced as more economic development moves into the area.
The Temple supported — and will continue to support — the neighborhood by providing jobs to local Memphians through its construction and restoration work. The BIG We runs a Cooperative Business Development program with the Southeast Center for Cooperative Development, which provides training to entrepreneurs from the neighborhood who are interested in starting cooperative structures. (All of the members of the cohort are eligible for a loan from SEED Commons , a cooperatively-governed national CDFI, former Ambitio US grantee, and nonprofit financial organization based in New York, if their business plans are viable.) The legacy of the Historic Clayborn Temple is people coming together to create a better world, but it is also about the present and the vision for the future.
Echoing the enormity of the event, Civil rights leader Martin Luther King III attended the May press conference and provided moving remarks. One line really struck me as we think about this moment and how we move forward when faced with great odds, devastation, and new threats to communities: “It only takes a few good human beings to bring about change.” I know we’ve got more than a few good folks, and the greatest power we have is in each other.
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