All the recent talk about the black vote and Clinton as the “first black president” as Toni Morrison called him way back in the 1990s made me remember something I covered in 2001 for several outlets including The Dallas Morning News.
It was then that a lawsuit was filed in federal court about a depot on the grounds of the Clinton Presidential Library. The historic depot was built by former slaves with handcrafted bricks. At the time, preservationists said the depot was the last of its kind in the mid-South. Bill Clinton was lobbied to save the depot, but did little do so. Local attorney Greg Ferguson, also a historic preservation, filed a lawsuit to stop the demolition. A little too late. From the Nov. 24, 2001, Dallas Morning News:
Little Rock’s Board of Directors voted 8-1 Tuesday night to begin demolition of the depot. The city owns the 27.7-acre site and will lease it to the presidential foundation.On Wednesday morning, Mr. Ferguson filed a lawsuit and a request for an injunction in U.S. District Court against Little Rock, the William J. Clinton Presidential Foundation, and several federal agencies including the Army Corps of Engineers. He was too late.Mr. Ferguson spent all night drafting the lawsuit, only to learn in court that the depot was gone less than 20 hours after City Hall approved its demise.“The city didn’t even have all of its paperwork in order,” said Mr. Ferguson.
A month earlier, Clinton visited Little Rock. Preservationists invited Clinton to tour the depot but he didn’t take them up on the offer. The Clinton Foundation said at the time that the plans for the library, which opened in 2004, was beyond changing at that point regardless of its slave-connected history.
