ABS History Club restores Freedom Shrine created in '60s

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January 20, 2010

By Jean Cole The News Courier Wed Jan 20, 2010, 08:18 PM CST

With a new school in the plans but still years away, 15 students at Athens Bible School have improved the school they have by restoring a wall of 18 historic documents known as the Freedom Shrine.

About two months ago, members of the ABS History Club raised the nearly $1,000 needed to create a better display for the far-flung documents by moving bricks, cleaning and painting at the school and by collecting $30 apiece.

Next, they built a formal wall and moved the documents, including a copy of the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, the Gettysburg Address and others, which had been placed in the school in the 1960s by the Exchange Club, a community improvement club.

“The documents used to hang on a wall in the auditorium,” said Greg Chandler, a History Club sponsor who teaches government and social studies at the private school in Athens. “When the auditorium was renovated, the documents were spread out over three different walls in the hall so you couldn’t see them all together. The History Club decided to create one wall for the documents for their annual project. It is something the history teachers have wanted to do for years.”

With a preliminary plan from sponsors, History Club members — with help from the school’s maintenance staff — created a display wall that rivals the White House. Flanked by white columns, the red painted plywood wall features white moulded panels below and white dental moulding above. Each of the 18 documents is placed inside a gold painted frame and topped with a plastic glass.

In addition to the Declaration, the Constitution and the Gettysburg Address are copies of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” the Treaty of Paris of 1783 formally ending the Revolutionary War, President George Washington’s inaugural address, President Thomas Jefferson’s inaugural address, the Monroe Doctrine, the Emancipation Proclamation, the Bill of Rights, the 13th Amendment banning slavery, the 19th Amendment granting women the right to vote, the German instrument of surrender during World War II and the Japanese instrument of surrender during World War II.

It all makes for some great reading, whether you are a visitor to the school or a student heading to class.

“I hope the documents will get more attention from the students now,” Chandler said.