B-Ham

Today we visited the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute. This museum was awesome! I enjoyed seeing so much of the museum's old school footage of the Civil Rights Movement in the South. I was able to experience the unfair and often deplorable environment that African-Americans had to face in the 50's and 60's. I had heard stories in middle school history classes and Black History month excerpts, but nothing could prepare me for the evidence of the treatment they endured. Seeing teenagers and young adults assaulted with powerful water hoses and angry dogs was shocking and unimaginable. However, hearing Dr. King's "I Have a Dream" speech from original film footage at Washington renewed my faith in a community's ability to rise up against oppression and injustice. I think I must have been ignorant or just uneducated on all the aspects of this enduring mission but I now feel that I understand their struggles to be treated equally, even when that should have been granted to everyone under the Constitution.

We also visited the 16th Street church across the street where 4 girls were killed by a member of the KKK as a racial hate crime. This church was a rallying point for protests and demonstrations throughout Birmingham and it was seen as a symbol of freedom and power for the black community. Even though a bomb destroyed the facade of the church building, the terrorist could not destroy the spirit or passion of the black community. This act may have even spurned more people to join the Civil Rights Movement.

Birmingham is a great city. Everyone seemed friendly and inviting. We even met a homeless man who had great stories to tell us about the Civil Rights Movement in Birmingham in the 60's.

Jason blogging for JT's group