A Trip Down The Civil Rights Trail
We headed into Birmingham today to check out the Civil Rights museum. As it was indeed once the most segregated city in the United States of America, they have a lot to say on the subject. We packed up our lunch this morning and made our way into town to our first stop, Kelly Ingram Park, which was a spot in which many rallies and protests were held, especially during the 50’s and 60’s. There are a lot of statues in the park, depicting scenes from some of the protests, in which the protestors were strictly non-violent but the police, lead by a very racist man nicknamed “Bull” Connor, reacted very aggressively, setting attack dogs and high-powered firehoses on children and police officers with batons on supposedly unruly crowds. They had an audio tour you could take on your phone while walking through the park, talking about important historical events in Birmingham, such as the bus boycott that went on for a year, or the protest that ended up with hundreds of black people in jail, including Martin Luther King, where he wrote his famous Letter From Birmingham Jail. We also
learned about the KKK attack on the 16th Street Baptist Church, setting off a bomb that killed four young girls and blinded a fifth. That same day, in the tumult following the attacks, two young boys were shot and killed. After we walked the park, we headed across the street to the Civil Rights museum. The museum was excellent and had multiple timelines, videos and plaques about the Civil Rights movement. The first thing in the museum was a short video going over the history of black society in Alabama, beginning with the end of the Civil War. Then there was a room focusing on the injustices of segregation, such as black living and education conditions vs the conditions of whites, and black culture, such as jazz, blues and gospel. The
museum covered the protests and rallies of blacks in Birmingham in more detail, talking more about the KKK and the racists in power. My favourite room was the one depicting a model of a Birmingham jail cell and had a voiceover of MLK reading his Letter From Birmingham Jail. The last few rooms talked about the march on Washinton D.C. and how it was a major breakthrough for blacks all around America, going on to exhibit the first black mayor of Birmingham, appointed in the late 70’s/early 80’s, who remained in office for over a decade. The last section focused on the fact that, though people are still racist in areas of the United State, the situation for blacks has improved greatly. It also showcased the case against the men of the KKK who planted the bombs that killed the four girls in the Baptist Church and there were a few boards that showed discriminatory events that have happened all over the globe. The museum was very moving and very interesting, since you don’t hear a whole lot of detail about the Civil Rights Movement in Canada. Hopefully the States as a whole gets all their crap together soon enough, regarding racial discrimination (see Trump supporters) and we can all be happy and stuff. Wouldn’t that be great. After we finished the museum, we were all quite hungry, so we ate the snacks we had bought on our way home for lunch. We stopped at a grocery store along the way and ended up eating there. Whole Foods has really good mac and cheese, just fyi. And that’s about it. Peace out m8s.