Black Elks Lodge members want to unite historic community

Legendary singer and activist Lena Horne helped open the Elks Lodge. The Commodores got their start there, and Tina Turner prowled its stage.

Outside the doors of the lodge, the modern civil rights movement found its footing — and its leaders — within this once-thriving black community on the outskirts of downtown Montgomery, along a street that’s now named for Rosa Parks. That was before the interstate carved up the neighborhood and sent many of its residents away, before many of the buildings where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and other rights figures met, prayed, lived or worked fell into disrepair.

Through those decades, the lodge has remained a social hotspot. But that was never the point of the organization, even when some of the world’s greatest performers were on stage. “That was a sideline,” said James Brown Jr., the lodge’s newly elected Exalted Ruler. “The bottom line was you had (people) who took care of their family and took care of the community. That’s our essence, and that’s what we need to get back to.”

There are two major Elks organizations nationwide. Most people are familiar with the higher-profile Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. The Montgomery lodge is part of the mostly black Elks of the World, a group that was formed over a century ago when black people were not allowed to join the BPOE. The building is also home to an all-female Elks temple led by Daughter Ruler Rosetta Edwards, a city native and teacher in Montgomery Public Schools.

The fraternal organization has struggled to replace its active but aging membership over the years. Charles McCree, the Montgomery lodge’s No. 2 male officer, said it was a much stronger chapter when he joined in 1999.

“A lot of those (people) have gone on, are deceased,” McCree said. “They weren’t young boys then, but they were still performing at 100 percent.

“But now, time changes and you get younger people coming in who are not fully aware of what’s happening. We’ve got to get people coming back in to make it strong, and have something to teach them – the right things.”

The first step, Brown said, was to purge the lodge of people who were there for a different reason.

“I’m not going to sit here and try to sugarcoat anything,” Brown said. “We went through a period where people saw that they could make some money, but we got rid of them. Now we’re in the process of getting back to the community.”

That’s happening while the world’s eyes turn to the neighborhood again, and major renovation efforts get underway at some of its most historic sites.

The Montgomery Bus Boycott was organized at the nearby Holt Street Baptist Church. That church sat vacant for nearly two decades but is now being turned into a museum and memorial, scheduled to open in 2020.

More:Bus boycott epicenter Holt St. Baptist Church rising again after years of decay

A block away Mt. Zion AME Zion Church annex is in the middle of a similar project after landing a $500,000 grant from the National Parks Service. King was elected to lead the Montgomery Improvement Association inside Mt. Zion, his official beginning as a national rights leader. It’s one of several Alabama civil rights sites collectively named to the 2018 World Monuments Watch List, which recognizes some of the most important places in the world. That means global attention, connections and help.

More:After years of decay, 'fall-down church' Mt. Zion AME becomes a global landmark

As those renovations continue, more than 300,000 visitors have flooded into Montgomery to visit the Equal Justice Initiative’s museum and memorial to lynching victims less than a mile away.

More:History and a bed: Airbnbs find 'astounding' growth in Montgomery

But Brown said other sites around the neighborhood have their own importance and lessons to teach, from rights leaders’ homes, to the neighborhood’s YMCA, to its library. It’s a broader canvass than some of the area’s other popular rights sites, which Brown said tend to focus on crime and justice.

“I’m teaching my child that the only way I can get progress is to go to jail,” he said. “Why can’t I teach them that they can go to church? Why can’t I teach them that they can go to a library? Why can’t I teach them that they can learn how to swim? … All of that’s ready in this one little area.”

The group has proposed a one-mile historic walk that would highlight 10 local sites that helped define life for early leaders of the civil rights movement. There’s a plan to tie it to a one-day summer camp for kids in the neighborhood, an oratorical contest, lectures and more. Brown said elected officials are reviewing that proposal now.

Meanwhile, the lodge is planning an appreciation for its remaining members.

The 250-seat ballroom is still active, and there are still dozens of people active in the local chapter. Brown said the lodge has lost focus at times and, like the neighborhood itself, they’ve lost some talented people over the years. “But we’re still here,” he said. “We’re here to tell the story of the resilience of a people, and the resilience of a community.”