Historic Clayborn Temple 

From Historic Building to Downtown Campus

- AMEC Building Opportunity -

Historic Clayborn Temple, home of the Sanitation Workers’ Strike of 1968 is undergoing a $30M renovation bringing new life and new possibilities at the intersection of Downtown and Historic South Memphis. Reopening as a cultural arts center, museum, and center for restorative economics, this project has already shown the power of preservation to transform Memphis. As we enter into Phase III of construction, we have an unprecedented but short window of opportunity to leverage our work to acquire a prime asset in downtown Memphis. Our neighbors at 280 Hernando St. have given us an exclusive opportunity to purchase their historic 8,000 sq. ft. building and .6 acre lot directly next door to Clayborn before it is put on the market. 

As stewards of Historic Clayborn Temple, the AMEC building is an exciting, once in a lifetime  opportunity for The Big We. The purchase of this building would be an incredible investment in the sustainability of our work. 280 Hernando St. is prime downtown real estate, sitting directly across from the FedEx Forum arena on the corner of Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd and Hernando St. In addition to instantly expanding our downtown footprint from one building to a campus, with parking, which we currently do not have, the acquisition of this building would also deepen our ability to preserve and tell the story of The Sanitation Workers’ Strike of 1968. 

The story of the movement that gave rise to the I AM A MAN iconography is not complete without the AMEC building. Currently the home office of the African Methodist Episcopal Church's national pension office, The AMEC building was an incredibly important and active part of The Strike. Inside the building was the office of T.O. Jones, the founder of the union that sparked The Strike and was the place where most of the closed door organizing and planning meetings were held with the core strike team and with Dr. King, SCLC leaders, and members of the national Union leadership.

The acquisition of this historic treasure would significantly decrease the time it will take for The Big We to activate plans to support neighbors and community members in physical space.  In addition to moving into the building as owner occupants, the team, in an instant, would gain the ability to provide space for the 48 entrepreneurs in our accelerator, a hub for our sustainability and affordable housing strategies, and space for artists through the artist in residence program alongside the paying tenants that already work out of the building including Memphis renowned civil rights treasure, Elaine Turner and Heritage Tours.  

After acquiring Historic Clayborn Temple in 2019 and the birth home of Aretha Franklin in 2024, The Big We has become a force in work of the adaptive reuse of Historic Properties in Downtown and South Memphis. In addition to these acquisitions, The Big We has been supporting and organizing the stewards of 26 other historic and culturally significant sites across these neighborhoods, from Beale Street to Soulsville.

Anchored in The Big We’s work at Historic Clayborn Temple, the restoration, activation, and networking of these sites creates a foundation for neighborhood revitalization, community ownership, exponential increase in Civil Rights/Cultural Tourism and the interpretation of Memphis’ role in the history and future of America. This preservation adjacent development plan for affordable housing, locally owned business, community owned public health & safety, and environmental repair and resilience provides fundamental infrastructure, attracts scaled integrated capital, and lifts up the stories we need to help propel us forward into a bright, safe, and abundant future for all Memphians.

Building A Restorative Development District

Fifty seven years after Dr. King’s assassination, Memphis is in a moment of transformation. With new, visionary city leadership, once-in-a-generation levels of investment, the growing pressures of public safety, and national trend towards gentrification it is clear that Memphis is on the precipice of a new reality. What is unclear is who will drive that transformation. In ten years, Memphis’ historic neighborhoods will be reimagined. The critical question is who will ultimately harness,  lead,  and benefit from the growth. 

These questions are most urgent in the South Memphis neighborhoods.  South Memphis is the home of the first Black millionaire in America, it’s the neighborhood that brought Black music to the world, and the location of some of the most pivotal sites of the Civil Rights Movement. South Memphis’ contributions to American and World history are unmatched.  But South Memphians have experienced generations of divestment placing them at risk of gentrification and being left behind from the coming transformation of Memphis.

The Downtown / South Memphis Civil Rights Cultural District will restore not only Historic Clayborn Temple, but the heritage sites of civil rights and cultural history along with the legacy and intentions of The Sanitation Workers and human & economic rights luminaries like Ida B. Wells, Robert R. Church, Cornelia Crenshaw, T.O. Jones, James Lawson, and Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King. Their Legacy and work was for human dignity and economic equity for all, so must ours be.

Grounded in the vision and practice of The Big We’s Restorative Development Model, this cultural district will be the engine of a new model of restoration and cultural preservation. Leveraging restoration for the transformation of downtown adjacent blighted land into flourishing affordable housing, brick and mortar entrepreneurial space, and sustainable public infrastructure.

Restorative Development District model is grounded in four design principles; 

⇨ Culture & Creative Placemaking ⇦

⇨ Community Ownership/Wealth Building ⇦

⇨ Public Health & Safety ⇦

⇨ Environmental Repair & Resiliance ⇦

Our Restorative Development District restores heritage sites to become cornerstones of surrounding community-owned development that embody the legacies memorialized in the heritage sites.  Leveraging integrated capital structures and public private partnerships, these districts are developed with local community leaders, developers, business owners and cultural stewards to ensure community ownership is built into every level of design, governance, and ultimately shared value participation.

South Memphis Civil Rights Cultural District

The South Memphis Cultural District is a comprehensive neighborhood development project designed around 20+ Historic Buildings critical to the history of Memphis and the history of American culture.

These sites including but not limited to*:

- Historic Clayborn Temple

- Old Daisy Theater

- Ernest Withers Studio

- 1st Baptist Beale 

- Church Auditorium

- Church Home

- Lorraine Motel

-  Universal Life Building

- AMEC Building

- Orpheum Theater

- R.S. Lewis Funeral Home 

- Mason Temple

- Aretha Franklin Home

- People’s Grocery

- Lemoyn-Owen College

- Royal Studios

- Stax Museum

- Rock & Soul Museum

District Pilot: Historic Clayborn Temple

A literal cornerstone at the convergence of Downtown and South Memphis, Historic Clayborn Temple’s restoration is not just to the building but to The Sanitation Workers and MLK’s legacy and their work for dignity and economic equity for all.  In partnership with Vance & 4th, being built by local Black developers. This project will add 3,500 sq ft of owned commercial real estate to showcase local Memphian artists, food and wellness entrepreneurs, 122 units of multi-income housing, and an additional heritage anchor with the restoration and interpretation of R.S. Lewis Funeral Home, where Dr. King laid in state after his assassination. This project brings to life a new corridor bringing tourism to South City, which opens up opportunities for businesses and equitable housing at scale. The restoration of Historic Clayborn Temple is providing a roadmap for scaled restorative development in South Memphis. 

This demonstration project is just one small example of what is possible in this and other neighborhoods. With the additional sites as anchors, we will scale the impact and potential of this project.