Home Page
February 22
February 23
February 24
February 25
February 26
February 27
February 28
Montgomery, Alabama
Dexter Ave. Baptist Church
Southern Poverty
Law Center
Birmingham,
Alabama
16th Street Baptist Church
Birmingham Civil
Rights Institute
March 1
March 2
March 3
Itinerary
Aknowledgements
Afterwords
|
|
Thursday, February 28
Today
we saw the Dexter Ave. Baptist Church and the Southern
Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, AL, and then drove to
Birmingham, AL. In Birmingham, we saw the 16th Street
Baptist Church, and visited the Birmingham Civil Rights
Institute before driving to Atlanta, Georgia.
Montgomery,
Alabama
Joe speaks to the group outside the Dexter Ave. Baptist
Church in Montgomery, Alabama.
The exterior of the Dexter Ave. Baptist church.
We visited the National Civil Rights Memorial outside the
old Southern Poverty Law Center building.
Detail of the memorial.
The new SPLC building.
Inside the SPLC.
The Alabama Supreme Court Building.
The chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court had this
sculpture of the 10 Commandments installed in the atrium
of the Supreme Court Building.
See the sculpture
in detail.
Outside the supreme court building.
Excerpt from Steph Fitzwater's
journal from today:
.
. . From the SPLC, we head across the street to the State
Supreme Court building. One of the justices (the one who
had condemned homosexuals to Hell in one of his opinions)
had put a monument to The Ten Commandments in the main
lobby. What another example of the South being so
incredibly different from the North. They have their own
culture, complete with state's and individual's rights, a
pride in the Confederacy and what the Confederate flag
has since come to symbolize, and a very conservative and
religious spirit. Basic societal systems were different,
along with different taboos and customs. I found it
difficult to compare anything to the South because their
foundation as a region and culture is fundamentally
different from the North or any other place that I am
familiar with. . . .
Birmingham,
Alabama
Inside the 16th Street Baptist church.
Entering the National Civil Rights Institute.
At Kelly Ingram Park in Birmingham. Behind us is the 16th
Street Church, and the Civil Rights Institute.
Read an excerpt of Rachel Fisher's
journal about the 16th Street Baptist Church:
. . . Then we went to the 16th street
Baptist church, which was also a little touristy, but
really good. Even though we already knew a lot of the
facts, it was still cool to be there and see it. The
inside of the church is really beautiful. There is this
great stained glass window of Jesus with this great blue
color and a sort of abstract Jesus. I really liked it and
found it powerful even though I am not religious (not to
mention Jewish, hehe.)
Next we went to the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute,
which I think is the best museum we've been to all trip.
It was also tough to get through in a short period of
time, but I really got a lot out of it in terms of
history and appreciation of the movement. It was
detailed, but could be gone through quickly if necessary.
It was also very moving. The set up and the meandering
path of the museum made it overwhelming in a good way. I
really enjoyed myself. And the privacy of the museum
because of the meandering path allowed me to be
overwhelmed and act moved. It was amazing. Then I went to
the gift shop and got a CD of Freedom Songs, yay!!!
"This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine
... "
|
