Songs of the Day: Blind Boys are bringing us home.

After two days at the beach, today we headed north and went to Tuskegee,AL to the Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site. The museum included the grounds and the first and second hangers. Hanger 1 contains many of the airplanes that African American pilots flew in World War II. A lot of people thought that they shouldn't fly because they were black, and did not have the proper education. But they were wrong, because the African-American pilots were some of the best at the time. 

The training started with thirteen men that wanted to do it, but only five passed at first. Then, more Blacks wanted to join so they became a whole squad- the #359th squad.

Hanger #2 had more exhibits and a very informational movie, with interviews of actual pilots. The film is currently winning an award at Cannes.

Then you get to see actual pilots’ outfits, an outfit that would have gone to space, real and replications of the airplanes that they flew. This is really cool.

Something I learned was that the motto for the Tuskegee Airmen was Double V: victory abroad and victory at home. Victory Abroad is winning battles against other countries, and well, doing their best. Their victory at home is racial justice, like they had been sent to WW2 to fight for democracy and rights, but when they came home, it was segregated. Many veterans became active in the Civil Rights Movement.

I feel lucky to have done this trip and recommend this type of trip to everyone. Read the books, learn our history and visit these amazing places

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Gillie Finally Goes to Birmingham, 2015

Song of the Day:

Today I finally got to go to Birmingham! We decided that we were going to go to the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute. It started with a video, and then the screen rolled up into the first gallery. The first display was the whites only and “Coloreds” only water fountains. The whites’ only water fountain was nice, new, and refrigerated. On the other hand, the “coloreds” one was an old sink like thing with rust, and it was sticking out of the wall, not just  sitting on the floor like the white one. One of our favorite things in the museum was: You could see a white classroom and a black classroom, there were two stacks of shirts, one was the income of white-blue collar white collar, and the income of African Americans. You could also see a barber shop, a church, and even signs for white and African American minstrel shows. All over the museum were old signs of colored only, and white only  signs.- it was really disturbing to be able to see those signs.

They also had a whole room explaining the 16^th street Baptist church bombing. You could see Carol Denise McNair’s shoes, necklace, mini children’s Bible, purse, change purse, her hat, and the brick that went into her skull; she was only eleven.

We then went to see the 16^th Street Baptist Church (they rebuilt it) but incredibly the sign was still left, the original sign for the church!! It was really moving to get to see that.

We then went just across the street to the Kelly Ingram Park, the place where the children of Birmingham would meet and get hosed down by firefighter hoses and attacked by police dogs. It also doubled as a statue park. They had statues of the four little girls that got killed during the church bombing, three pastors, kids getting hoses sprayed at them, three germen shepherds, and two kids with “I ain’t afraid of your jail,” in a jail cell, and a boy being grabbed by his shirt collar by a policeman. There was also one of Martin Luther King Jr. It was incredible to be able to see the park where kids my age were beat, and sprayed down as they fought for justice. 

Song of the Day: Pretty much anything by Betty Mae Fikes can make a long walk shorter, especially "This Little Light of Mine." But since we couldn't find that one, here's another:

Today we went just about everywhere in Alabama, at least that is how it felt being in Selma, Birmingham, and Montgomery.

At first we started the day pitching our tent at the Oak Mountain Camp ground. Then we headed for Selma. We ate Lunch a Lannie’s (l-Annie’s) a local BBQ place. It was so good! We then went to the Edmond Pettis Bridge in Selma, first driving over,  but then walking back. It was really cool getting to see where the President stood, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “ The arch of the universe bends toward justice.” And where so many people were bashed and bruised. It is incredible how much history can go in one bridge.  Next, we went to the mini museum, about the march from Selma to Montgomery.

Then we went to the next county over, Lowndes, and went to the bigger National Park Service museum and learned more about the march and Tent City, which SNCC provided for families kicked out of their homes after trying to register to vote.

We then headed on to Montgomery, and the Rosa Parks Museum. We had a bubbly tour guide, and a great experience.  One of the highlights was that when the introductory video finishes, doors open into a narrated scene of the day Rosa got arrested.  It was a great museum, and I recommend you going there.

After, we saw the Dexter Ave. Baptist Church (King’s) and a memorial outside the Southern Poverty Law Center by the same artist that did the Viet Nam Veterans memorial in Washington D.C. 

Tomorrow: Birmingham!

National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel, Memphis, TN

People Get Ready by the Impressions--for Gillie, this was reminiscent of King's Mountaintop speech: get ready, good things are coming, but I may not see them with you.





and, since we drove through Mississippi today and because this song captures a lot of anger

The museum is in the former Lorraine Motel building – where Martin Luther King Jr was shot.  As you approach, you see the original motel sign – it’s a really cool, neon sign and you feel like you are back in that era!  You can see the car he drove up in and balcony where he was assassinated.  It was weird at first, kind of eery but really cool – then you start to think about how you are standing close to where an important leader in our history stood and was murdered.

The museum is really great – it doesn't just capture Selma or Montgomery and Martin Luther King Jr. – it captures many eras of the Black experience in America from slavery to today: capture, slavery, slave revolts, voting rights, bus desegregation, desegregation of restaurants, gaining the overall rights of people and then, of course, MLK Jr.’s death.  The museum experience really starts with an exhibit on slavery, followed by a film to get us ready.  When the film ends, the screen lifts and you join a silhouette of marchers and enter the main exhibits. 

At this museum you can sit by Rosa Parks on a bus, see a burned Greyhound bus from the Freedom Rides and even a garbage truck from the Memphis Sanitation strike.  You could go inside MLK Jr.’s Birmingham Jail cell and see many informational videos.  We saw Black Panther outfits and sat in a recreated Mississippi Freedom Summer schoolroom. 

That's Jennie in the blue sweater.

As we think about the museum, we all feel like part of what was so cool was how they made you feel like you were there.  In every big exhibit room there would be statues as if you were on the street. By the Montgomery bus there were 3 women walking, as if they were walking in the boycott, there was a bus driver yelling at you and the bus itself had all the ads that would have been on it the day Rosa rode. 

We all agree that this was one of the best museums we've ever been in.

MLK's room at the Lorraine

Songs of the Day:

Staples Singers: Why am I Treated so Bad

Pop Staple heard MLKJ preaching at Dexter Ave. Baptist church, and said if he can preach it, we can sing it. So he wrote a song about the Little Rock Nine.

This later became King’s most requested song. Dred Scott might have related to this song.

  Harry Belafonte: Oh Freedom

This reminded us of how Dred Scott must have felt during the 11 year wait for his freedom after the ruling went against him. Or for his whole life.

First Day, 3/14/15, Saturday

The old courthouse in St. Louis

Today we went to the Old Courthouse. We got lost on the way, and went to Illionis twice, when we weren’t even planning to once, but that is not the point.

At first, we stood on the steps, thinking of the hot day when everyone was waiting for the answer. We also took many pictures of the statue of Harriet and Dred Scott. When we got there, the park ranger was so excited to hear that someone actually wanted to learn about Dred Scott, because most people were there for the arch, and the St. Patrick's Day parade. 

 The Park Ranger said that the floor we were standing on was the same floor Dred Scott stood on the many days of the case. We went to see a map of where he and Harriet lived--both free and slave states. The reason why he sued is because he and Harriet had lived in free states, and once you are in a free state, it sticks to you like velcro or burs (that is how the park ranger explained it). Another issue was that the  court said you can't look at a slave and call them property and a person. And sadly, they ruled wrong.  Even though the court ruled that Dred and Harriet were property, eventually they were purchased by a man who then freed them.

Then we drove to Memphis, found our way to Beale Street and discovered this going on:

 

Tomorrow we go to the Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Hotel, then drive to Alabama.

Before heading to the National Civil Rights Museum on Sunday, we walked along the riverfront and decided to revisit Beale St on a quieter Sunday morning (and to eat some southern fried goodness).

 

Book list

Book list

This is Gillie:  Here's a list of the books we've read over the last few years -- I recommend them all!

To Kill a Mockingbird

Roll of thunder hear my cry

Lions on Little Rock

Glory Be

Jeffersons Sons

Watsons go to Birmingham 1963

Claudette Colvin biography

One crazy summer

My life with the Lincolns

A long walk to water

PS:  Look for my next post on Saturday - we are travelling to St. Louis tonight and will tour the Dred Scott museum in the morning!

Follow us on our civil rights tour!

One of Mark and Gillie's favorite things to do is to snuggle up and read.  Over the years, Gillie has developed a very strong interest in historical fiction - particularly for fiction set in the context of the modern Civil Rights era (Booklist to follow).  Mark came up with the idea that we could take a spring break tour of some of the major sites of the movement - and so that's what we are doing!  Follow us as we go tour:

• Old Capitol/Dred Scott Museum - St. Louis Missouri
• Memphis and the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel
• VARIOUS sites in Montgomery, Selma, Birmingham and Tuskegee

We hope you will follow us and leave us comments with your quesitons or thoughts -- we will check this/post every day (unless we can't get connected) and are excited to share this trip with you!