1018-1010 Water Avenue
In 2025, these historic buildings were purchased by a partnership of private citizens and Common Power, a national organization committed to a democracy of, by, and for the people. The plans are to create a “living market space” featuring local food and spirits, entrepreneurs offering original products and wares, and the brilliant creativity of the Black Belt—all enveloped within a celebration of the everyday heroes who made and make Selma a hallowed place of dignity and democracy in America. Work is underway, with a goal of opening by autumn 2027.
Who we are
Foot Soldiers Park - Selma, AL
Foot Soldiers Park was founded in 2021 to stimulate a community-driven preservation of Selma’s legacy and revitalization of its economy, while cultivating the next generation of activists armed with the wisdom and knowledge of the past.
Common Power
Common Power is the nation’s premier organizing force for recruiting, educating, and mobilizing next-generation leaders and everyday volunteers to win elections.
This exhibit was designed by the Institute for Common Power, an education branch of Common Power.
About 1018 and 1012 Water Avenue
Beginning in 1957 until at least 1960, the upstairs of 1010 Water Avenue served as headquarters of the Dallas County White Citizens’ Council, often referred to only as the “Citizens’ Council.” A segregationist, white nationalist organization, the White Citizens’ Council (WCC) formed in 1954 as a response to the United States Supreme Court ruling Brown v. Board of Education, which called for the end of school segregation.
First established in Mississippi, the WCC strove to halt school integration and stymie any efforts toward racial progress. Considered a more upscale version of the Ku Klux Klan, the WCC was often entrenched in local and state government and members used their political influence to legally and illegally terrorize African Americans while working to halt civil rights activity. Members are known to be responsible for countless deaths of African Americans during the Civil Rights Movement. By the end of the 1950s, the WCC had chapters in more than half of states in America, and boasted a membership as high as 300,000.
In the near future, a space that housed the Dallas County White Citizens Council will become a home to people and work uplifting and serving Selma’s entire community.
In 1993, 1012 Water Avenue became the site of the founding of the National Voting Rights Museum and Institute (NVRMI). “Our mission,” states the NVRMI, “is to be a Museum and Institute that chronicles and preserves the historic journey for the right to vote that began when the ‘Founding Fathers’ first planted the seeds of democracy in 1776.” The NVRMI is now located at the foot of the Edmund Pettus Bridge at 6 US-80 East, with a focus on honoring, archiving, and exhibiting the testimonials and artifacts of people participating in the 1965 Selma to Montgomery marches, and the protests that preceded them. The courage, persistence, and strategy of Selma protestors who participated in those marches helped usher in the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
