A civil rights icon’s childhood home will not be a museum after opposition from her descendants

Associated Press/Report for America

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The New Orleans City Council has rejected plans to turn a historic home connected with the life of civil rights movement leader Oretha Castle Haley into a museum. The decision Thursday follows fierce opposition from many of Haley’s descendants. They accuse the property’s owner, Candice Henderson-Chandler, of exploiting Haley’s civil rights activism for commercial benefit. A civil court had already issued a preliminary injunction against Henderson-Chandler’s use of Haley’s legacy. Henderson-Chandler says she wanted to make a space to celebrate the broader Civil Rights Movement in New Orleans. Haley’s brother supported those plans.