When planning our travels, we often watch a movie related to our trip. This enables us to better understand what we will experience. Originally, we scheduled this trip to visit Charleston and Savannah, but had to change plans because of a hurricane. So we were unable to watch movies related to the trip prior to the trip. But once we came home, we did watch “Selma”. Being filmed on location, the movie “came alive” for us. Although most of our vacations do not have a single theme, this one did. This is due to the fact that most of the places we visited were Civil Rights museums and sites. We visited Montgomery and Birmingham, Alabama in addition to Selma. By no means should we consider this list of the Civil Rights sites we visited to be complete. But certainly, it is a good beginning.
Civil Rights in Montgomery
When visiting Montgomery, AL, we went to two sites: the Greyhound Bus Station and the Rosa Parks Library and Museum.
At this Greyhound Bus Station on May 20, 1961 a local mob attacked the Freedom Riders (a group of students and civil rights activists). These activists brought attention to bus segregation in the Jim Crow south. Their actions attempted to require the southern state governments to follow the federal laws of integration of the buses. At this museum, run by the National Park Service, you can see part of the original segregated bus station. Inside, the exhibit allows you to read about the conditions that led up to this fateful day in May 1961, and what happened at this location.
Just a few blocks away on the campus of Troy University, is the Rosa Parks Library and Museum. Rosa Parks was a civil rights activist who was instrumental in the Montgomery Bus Boycott by refusing to give up her seat in a “whites only” section of the bus in which she was riding on December 1955. This act began the process of integrating the city bus service. The museum shows what life was like in the Jim Crow south and how the actions of Rosa Parks and other civil rights activists changed the status quo.
Civil Rights in Selma
T
he right to vote is perhaps the most important right that any citizen can have. African American citizens in the South, since Reconstruction, continually found themselves disenfranchised through a series of local rules. These discriminatory regulations purposely made it extremely difficult to exercise their right to vote. In March, 1965, three marches helped to draw attention to this injustice. These marches began in Selma, Alabama, with their destination being Montgomery, the state capitol. Each of the marches crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge. While visiting, I took the opportunity to walk across the bridge and contemplate the courage of the marchers as they faced the violence on “Bloody Sunday“. Selma is one of those places that every American needs to experience.
Civil Rights in Birmingham
On Sunday, September 15, 1963, a bomb, planted by the KKK, exploded at Birmingham’s 16th Street Baptist Church killing four, young girls who were attending Sunday School. As fate would have it, we were at the church and the Civil Rights Institute on the 50th anniversary of this event. After visiting the museum, we went to see the monuments in the park across the street. A lady, who was selling ice cream to visitors, approached us. She asked if we were there to attend the anniversary event. We told her that we were unaware of the event. She went on to recount feeling the explosion just a few blocks from the church. She told us she was home caring for her newborn child or she would have been at church that morning.
Civil Rights in Memphis
A list of important civil rights sites must include The National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis. However, we did not visit this museum on this trip since we have been there previously. Follow this link to read our previous post.
Some believe that Civil Rights historical sites are only of interest to those who have had their rights compromised or violated. In particular, it is believed that only minority groups would be interested in these sites. A lesson to be learned from visiting these places is that if the rights of one is violated, the rights of all are violated. For one day we may find that we are that “one”.