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Birmingham Civil Rights Memorial Trail
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After a quick overnight stopover
in Atlanta to sort some of Rodge’s paperwork out, and allow me to catch the
Hawks nearly do the impossible (fair to say it was quite hard for me to contain
myself there at the end and try not to wake Nic and Al, let alone the rest of
the hotel guests), we headed west into Alabama.
Our first stop was Montgomery,
where we had intended to check out the Rosa Parks Museum and the Civil Rights
Memorial Centre only to forget that it was a Sunday and this actually means
something to those not on a seemingly never ending holiday. With the museums
both shut for the day, Al and I (possibly secretly overjoyed with this turn of
events) decided to get involved in some of the religious activities on offer in
‘Bama.
We skipped the Sunday church
session and headed straight to the nearest sports bar and settled in for an
afternoon of FOOTBALL while Nic enjoyed a day off from the two of us.
Although Alabama doesn’t have an
NFL team, FOOTBALL is huge. The two universities, ‘Bama and Auburn have
possibly one of the fiercest rivalries in the country, and everyone loves
football in some degree. Not having an NFL team meant the bar was packed with
supporters of every team, and about 10 screens showing all the games. Al and I
just had to try and contain ourselves and not to give ourselves whiplash trying
to watch the 7 or so games on offer.
We were in luck with the
Philadelphia Eagles v Washington Redskins game being played on one of the main
screens above the bar, and given Al is a big Eagles fan, we made ourselves at
home and settled in for an unexpected and delightful Sunday sesh.
I designated myself as the driver
so Al could enjoy the game a little more with a few refreshments throughout,
but apparently I was alone in my endeavour to remain sober and operate our mode
of transport home. I say this because I hope most of the other patrons were
riding horses home, or bicycles, or anything other than cars because not too
many people were walking out of that place with all their inhibitions in check.
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Rosa Parks Memorial Bus Stop
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On the Monday we decided to skip
the Civil Rights Memorial Centre but checked out the Rosa Parks Museum before
heading deeper in to ‘Bama country. The Rosa Parks Museum was definitely worth
the stop, and although the museum is honoured in Rosa’s name, it is dedicated
to the bus boycott movement of Montgomery that lead to the desegregation of
public buses and was at the forefront of the Civil Rights movement that changed
the nation. The museum included a guided tour which for me is a whole lot more
personal and gives you an in-depth and informative summary of the museum in about
a third of the time it would have taken me to read it all.
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Birmingham City Hall
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We left the famed bus stop and
made the short drive to Birmingham, yet another town at the forefront of the
Civil Rights Movement. Erring on the cheaper side we found out about the free
Civil Rights Memorial Trail which takes you from the 16th Street
Baptist Church, which acted as the launch pad for the protests during the ‘50s
and ‘60s, all the way to City Hall, the intended destination for the protests.
Problem was they very rarely made it that far, often being arrested along the
route. The Church also serves as a memorial for 4 young girls and 2 young boys
who were murdered during the struggle for freedom, the girls being killed
during a bombing of the church at the hands of Ku Klux Klan members.
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16th Street Baptist Church
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The South has been an eye opening
experience for us, with all the states and towns having their own chapter in
the Civil Rights Movement, much like the Post-Soviet states all share a common
thread in the fabric of Eastern Europe and its freedom struggles.
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