Montgomery and Selma, Alabama

Montgomery is where the southern states got together to establish the Confederate States of America and where Jefferson Davis was sworn in as the first president. There is a star on the steps of the statehouse to mark the spot where he stood when he was sworn in.

This is the First White House of the Confederacy:

This was Mrs. Davis' bedroom. I took this
picture mainly for the dress:

These are some of Jefferson Davis' things:

A spill holder. A spill is a twist of paper

used for lighting candles, pipes and fires:

We walked a couple of blocks to the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church. We had this wonderful effusive lady who loved us all and sang to us. At the end of the tour she had us and the other couple that was there with us all hold hands and sing "We Shall Overcome." She was wonderful - and I didn't take a picture of her!! :(

This is a mural on the wall in the basement of the church:

There is a baptismal font under the floor here:

We drove onto Selma. When the Selma-to-Montgomery march took place, they had to camp along the way because it was a 50 mile walk.

This march was for the right to vote. We did stop at a visitors' center there and the rangers gave us a sample of the literacy tests that the blacks had to pass in order to register to vote. Here is one question from the Louisiana State literacy test:
"Divide a vertical line in two equal parts by bisecting it with a curved horizontal line that is only straight at its spot bisection of the vertical." On this test there were 30 similar questions and they had 10 minutes to answer them all. Here is a question from the Alabama Literacy test: "Appropriation  of money for the armed services can be only for a period limited to ____ years." There were 68 questions just like this one and they were given 30 minutes to answer them. Could you?

When we arrived in Selma, we walked across the Edmund Pettus Bridge. No one beat us, or trampled us with horses, or threw tear gas canisters at us. 

A ranger at the visitor's center here directed us to a local history museum. It was actually a lot of fun - full of all kinds of local history. 

The Old Depot Museum:

Voting booth:

A clock maker's bench:

These bow, arrows, and quiver were made by Geronimo while he was imprisoned at Mt. Vernon, Alabama:

The proprietor at the museum recommended the Golden Ranch Barbecue for dinner, which is where we ate. I ordered fish with potatoes and gravy. They put gravy on the fish as well. Let's just say it was a cultural experience!

Civil Rights

Today was all in Alabama. In a little town called Anniston, the Freedom Riders were beaten at two bus stations here. If you know who the Freedom Riders were you can scroll down. If not I will tell you. They were people, both whites and blacks, who rode interstate buses from D.C. to Jackson, Mississippi, to see if the integration laws for interstate travel would actually be upheld. In Anniston all of them tried to use the "whites only" waiting area and restrooms and were met by mobs who beat them - some were put into the hospital. The mob slashed the tires on one of the buses. The bus driver tried to drive as far out-of-town as possible, but after several miles had to pull off the road. The mob had followed them and again began pulling people off the bus and beating them. Then they firebombed the bus with most of the people still on board. Fortunately, everyone was able to get out of the bus.

These murals identify where the two bus stations were:

This is the site of the firebombing and the future site of a commemorative park:

Kent and I marveled over and over at the bravery of these people. We saw a video of one man who had  been beaten, speaking from a hospital bed, who was planning to get back on the bus the next day and continue the ride!!

A small (or large) diversion on our way out of town--"World's Largest Office Chair"

We discovered as the day went on, that our trip was actually following the trail of the Freedom Rider buses, almost exactly! Who knew. :)

We drove to Birmingham, Alabama. Our first visit was to the 16th Street Baptist Church, from which the children marchers were sent out to their arrests, and the site of a bombing that killed four young girls.

Where the black marker is, there were stairs going up to a door on the second floor. A segregationist planted a bomb underneath the stairs that blew out windows, collapsed the stairs and killed 4 girls, ages 11-14, that were in the basement getting ready for meetings. The marker is the spot where they found their bodies:

This is inside the church:

This stain glass window was partially destroyed

and had to be restored:

To say the least, this was a very sobering place.

We then walked across the street to the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute. It was a great display and gave us an idea of what life was like under segregation.

I missed the important part of this setting -- off to the right is a little black girl peering in, wishing she could go inside:

This was very moving and thought-provoking.

The site of the Birmingham City Jail, where MLK wrote his "Letter from Birmingham Jail"

After lunch we drove to Montgomery and checked in. Our hotel was on Commerce street. Their commerce used to be slaves.

This street comes up from the river. The slaves would be brought to the dock here and then kept in

warehouses, until auction day:

This circle around the fountain is where the

sale of the slaves took place:

Just a short walk from here we went to the Rosa Parks' Museum. It is right at the spot where Mrs. Parks was taken off the bus and arrested for not giving her seat up to a white man.

This fun sculpture was right next to the place

where we ate our dinner:

After dinner we took a walk down Commerce street

to the river . . . .

. . . . And back: