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The newly hired curator of the civil rights museum under construction in the old Woolworth’s building is an anthropologist who was just a boy when he heard about college students trying to integrate a whites-only lunch counter in Greensboro.

Organizers hope to draw on his museum experience overseeing exhibits, artifacts and educational programming to design a historical monument that children and scholars can appreciate.

“I’m excited because the museum is telling an important story,” said Bamidele Demerson, 58, who at the moment is looking at the cash register used at the segregated lunch counter. “In some ways, my coming to Greensboro is full circle — I have been here before by experiencing it on the news and by learning it and teaching it and creating exhibitions around this theme” elsewhere.

The International Civil Rights Center & Museum will pay homage to the N.C. A&T freshmen who refused to leave the whites-only lunch counter and helped inspire a national sit-in movement. The museum, which is expected to bring hundreds of thousands of people to downtown Greensboro annually, is scheduled to open Feb. 1, 2010, on the 50th anniversary of the lunch counter sit-ins.

“Bamidele’s proven record for creating relevant and thought-provoking experiences for museum visitors stood out in our selection process,” said Melvin “Skip” Alston, the chairman of the museum’s board of directors. “He is the necessary piece of the puzzle to make this museum everything we had dreamed it could be.”

Demerson, who started work Monday, joins a staff led by Executive Director Amelia Parker, who has worked to bring the project to reality since 2004.

Previously, Demerson served as executive director at the Harrison Museum of African American Culture in Roanoke, Va. Before that, he was curator of education and director of exhibitions and research during a 10-year tenure with the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit.

Demerson’s undergraduate and graduate studies at the University of Michigan included a concentration in cultural anthropology, as well as a focus on African American and African studies.

“One thing that made him stand out for me is the fact that he had a global concept of human rights — and not everyone applying to tell the story could make that connection,” said state Rep. Earl Jones, who with Alston led a group that saved the building when F.W. Woolworth Co. decided to close the store. “This is a concept that has since been replicated around the world.”

As for what he has to work with, Demerson’s inventory includes much of the original lunch counter. An 8-foot section of the lunch counter and four stools are on permanent display at the Smithsonian.

“I’m just so pleased that those are still intact, and beyond that, I’m excited that the Woolworth building was not razed but was indeed saved ... because the building itself is an artifact of the time,” he said.

Looking forward, Demerson also is excited about working in partnership with people in the community.

“A museum should mine its own backyard,” Demerson said. “We have a responsibility to both teach and work in the community; there are gems here in Greensboro that must be recognized as part of a national narrative.”

Contact Nancy McLaughlin at 373-7049 or nancy.mclaughlin @news-record.com