A Tour Through Civil Rights History - Day 4

Our 4th Day started by heading southwest to Tupelo, Mississippi.  We made a quick stop at the border for yet another state sign.

Once in Tupelo, we headed to the boyhood home of Elvis Presley.  We walked around the courtyard which included his childhood home, church, small fountain and a timeline of his life while in Tupelo.  There were many stories throughout the courtyard - sharing interesting and comical stories from Elvis' childhood.  It was a great stop that we all enjoyed.

We also stopped at the town square in Tupelo to see this statue.

One of Matt's favorite Radio Stations is AFR Radio - A part of American Family Association. We made a quick stop for a picture as we were driving through Tupelo.

Our plan for the remainder of the day was to drive in to Memphis and visit Graceland, Lorraine Motel, Beale Street and possible visit the Peabody Hotel to visit their ducks.  Driving into Memphis, we quickly came to the realization that our plan was NOT God's plan for the day...

As we came in to the southern portion of Memphis, our battery light came on.  Having experienced something similar in his own van (while traveling home from a Letterboxing event), Matt knew that we needed to find a mechanic asap or be stranded on the side of the road.  I quickly looked up the closest auto shop and we pulled in a few minutes later. We were so thankful for the owner of the shop who went out of his way to locate a new alternator for us, having it delivered right away and going to work on the van as soon as it cooled down.  While we lost 3 hours of our day, we realized it could've been much, much worse. It sucked that we broke down, but we did...and God supplied for our needs.

We left the car repair shop and headed to Graceland. By this time, we were well passed business hours and everything that we planned to do in Memphis was closed for the day. While we were bummed, we made the most of what we had.  We got out and took some pictures - enjoying the views that we could see.  Evidently, writing notes on the wall at Graceland is a thing! 

Lorraine Motel was next  - the motel where MLK was assassinated. Maintenance crews were busy as they prepped the building for the what would be the 50th Anniversary of MLK's death (just a week later).  They were preparing for a huge conference in MLK's name/honor.

At this point in time, Will had a pretty bad headache and was laying down in the back of the van. Matt took the girls up to Motel to see it up close and take pictures.

Rizzo's - Definitely Maddie's favorite!

We drove towards our next (and last) stop, Sun Studio "The Birthplace of Rock & Roll". We drove by Beale Street on the way there.  It was loud and heavy traffic.  I hopped out to snap some pictures and met Matt on the next block. If our day had been different, we would've loved to walk a bit...but it wasn't, so we didn't!

The sun was setting and we were getting hungry.  We drove downtown to head towards our hotel - a few hours up the road.  We saw this pretty cool Bass Pro Shops Building. On the same bridge, we crossed over in to Arkansas. Luckily we already got this state picture, lol.

 

We ate dinner and drove to our hotel (in the rain). So thankful for the wonderful weather that we had while on this trip. It was overcast and a bit cooler most days, but it didn't rain (except for the long drive there and home). While this wasn't a "fun, touristy" type of trip (Will asked me at one point, "Can't we have one day without history"). I can't say that I blame him.  After a few days of lots of reading and talking, our brains were tired.  However, I wouldn't trade this trip for anything. We need to understand - and teach our children - the pain of the past that this country has come through. We pray that our children will take these history lessons and go into the world - being positive role models and not allowing history to repeat itself.

Several years ago Matt went to our local library to listen to Rabbi Jonathan Porath speak about the Pentateuch. Rabbi Porath made it a point to highlight Deuteronomy 25:17-19 that reads, "Remember what Amalek did to you . . . you shall not forget."

Amalek, like Bull Connor, was evil and did awful things to the Hebrew people, why should we "remember" and "not forget" what he did? Rabbi Porath said, "Remember the Holocaust [slavery/lynchings/etc]. There is evil in the world. You can't be morally neutral, speak against evil and stand for good."

That's why we took this trip.

A Tour Through Civil Rights History - Day 3

Thanks to driving to Selma the previous night, we were able to rearrange our hotels for today and go a bit further up the road, accomplishing more in the day than we originally planned.

Our first stop was at Jackson Lake Island. When Matt mentioned the letterbox on the island (just minutes from our hotel), he said that the box was hidden on a movie set for the movie "Big Fish".  Kaitee immediately perked up and said that they had read the book and watched the movie earlier this year!  While she was SUPER excited to see all of the island, the rest of us weren't as thrilled.  It ended up being a neat stop - the kids practiced their shoe throwing skills (thanks to a pair being left on the ground), we found a letterbox, Will & Alex fell in love with the "wild" goats and we got to see a very cool movie set (made even more cool when we watched the movie as a family a few weeks after the trip).

This is a sign we don't see in Illinois - kind of unnerving as a parent.

Can you tell that Kaitee is a bit excited...the others, not so much!

We left the Montgomery area and headed north to Birmingham.  We knew that this would be the hardest stop of the trip and we weren't really looking forward to it.  Here is what Matt wrote regarding this day:

 "Just the thought of Birmingham gives me an ominous feeling. The evil that took place here...I can't even put to words. Every picture in my mind that are synonymous with the Civil Rights Movement, include German Shepherds and fire hoses. The Birmingham Police and Fire Departments, under the direction of Bull Connor...all took place in this town.

One bright spot was Martin Luther King, Jr.'s 'Letter From the Birmingham Jail.' Sad how one of the few bright spots for Birmingham, in my mind, comes from a man who was unjustly jailed."

From the Birmingham Jail, we drove downtown to the 16th Street Baptist Church. On September 15, 1963, a bomb went off during the Sunday School hour killing 4 young girls -  Addie Mae Collins (age 14), Carol Denise McNair (age 11), Carole Robertson (age 14), and Cynthia Wesley (age 14)

Just across the street from 16th Baptist Church is Kelly Ingram park -- the site of the infamous scenes of german shepherds and fire hoses.

Today, there are statues throughout the park that invoke emotion. The first statue you encounter as you walk from the 16th Baptist Church is one dedicated to the 4 girls who were killed.

This statue provoked an emotional reaction within us. I still can't get over the inhumane way in which people were treated. It represents the fire hoses blasting people against a wall.

You can see 16th Street Baptist Church through the trees in the background to the right.

Whereas the fire hose statue invoked emotion...this one puts you in the middle of it all. Absolutely Terrifying.

This statue commemorates the Children's Crusade -- which Matt didn't know anything about (even with doing research for this trip), however, the kids learned about the Children's Crusade at school and were familiar with it.

MLK Statue in the middle of the park.

The kids were a bit bored after walking around and reading lot of information boards...

Matt was thrilled to find a Whataburger on the drive north!  One of his favorites from his Houston days.

When we had crossed the border into Alabama, we stopped at the Welcome Center. Matt went through the brochures on display and pulled all the ones about the Civil Rights Movement. He saw one with a picture of Jesse Owens on it and grabbed that one, too.

 We didn't know that Jesse Owens was from Alabama and this was not on the agenda for our trip. We tucked it away as a "possibility" if time permitted...we were going to be stopping to see Helen Keller's home and Jesse Owens wasn't that far off.

The Jesse Owens Museum is so well done. Lots of information, memorabilia, pictures. I'm so glad that we stopped.

Outside of the Museum is a long jump pit, where you can test your skills against Owens. Only Will and Maddie gave it a go.

A little perspective...in the foreground you can see the launching plate with the kids standing at where he landed -- in ONE JUMP!!

The raked line in the sand is where Maddie and Will landed their jumps.

Our last stop of the day was Ivy Green, the birth home of Helen Keller.

One of the plaques in front of the home said that it was the second home built in Tuscumbia, Alabama. They've done a great job of keeping up with it. The small cottage to the right (below) is where Anne Sullivan took Helen to teach her, away from the influence of Helen's parents.

This Bronze statue of young Helen is a replica of the original - located in the Capitol Visitor Center in Washington DC.

This cement bust of older Helen is a replica of the original that is located inside the National Cathedral in Washington, DC.  Helen and her teacher, Anne Sullivan are buried together at the Cathedral. 

The actual water pump that Helen learned her first word "W-A-T-E-R"

A new fountain/statue recreating the moment Helen learned the word "Water"...the water wasn't flowing when we were there.

We watched the movie about Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan, "The Miracle Worker" the week before our trip.  We asked if the movie held true to real life events and the tour guide said that it did.  While the house was different in the movie, it was neat to walk through the house and think through the events of the movie - bringing Helen's story to life.

We ended our day and headed to the hotel - first stopping at The Pie Factory for a pizza dinner.  Neat atmosphere and yummy pizza.