We toured the city of Birmingham before departing back to California. We were able to view sites such as the jail house Dr. King was held when he wrote his letters, the courthouse where the unfair trials against our people were held, the home of Angela Davis and other historical landmarks.
I grew up in Alabama in the mid 60's. Lived in Birmingham and went to school there as a small child. I was too young to understand or recognize racism, but I do remember that Blacks were fairly separated from Whites in school, but we didn't question that - that's just the way it had always been. As I returned home over the years as an adult, it was clear that racism was still alive and well down south. I ran into it myself a number of times, and it certainly didn't feel good. It made me angry! Luckily I was old enough, mature enough and most importantly educated enough to deal with it head on; I certainly put that racist salesman in his place! Of course I was a college-educated, intelligent adult Black woman in the late 1980's by this time, so the pure "hatred" and "evil" that I saw in his eyes did not intimidate me, but I certainly understood then just how helpless our people must have felt way back when...when they were slaves to these people. What a shame, what a shame! Birmingham, Alabama
ReplyDeleteThat white house photographed above was the home of Angela Davis, the political activist. The area we visited was known as Dynamite Hill because of the numerous bombings which were done by the KKK.
ReplyDeleteOne County building which held the jailhouse where Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote a lot of his letters about the unfair treatment of blacks was owned by the KKK themselves. The letter includes the famous statement "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere," as well as the words attributed to William Ewart Gladstone quoted by King: "[J]ustice too long delayed is justice denied."
On cornerstones of the building there were swastika all around. The word swastika itself means good, but we know it to be symbolic with KKK. To this day, it remains as a history lesson.
Wow, I'm speechless.....
ReplyDeleteTynahmarie,
ReplyDeleteI don't know if Breyani shared this with you but one of the young girls killed in the blast looked like Breyani. We were in the Civil Rights Museum and we had her stand next to the photo and everyone said she had a striking resemblence. We were not allowed to take pictures but if you ever get a chance to look at any website photos, you will see the familiarity.
The child:
Carol Denise McNair was born November 17, 1951. At the time of her death, she was eleven years old, the youngest victim killed in the attack. She was the eldest child of photo shop owner Chris and school teacher Maxine McNair, who had two younger daughters. A pupil at Center Street Elementary School, she was a popular student who was nicknamed 'Niecie' by her friends. She was a member of the Brownies guide organization, and enjoyed holding tea parties and playing baseball. She helped raise money to support muscular dystrophy by creating plays, dance routines, and poetry readings. These events became an annual event. People gathered in the yard to watch the show in Denise's carport, the main stage. Children donated their pennies, dimes, and nickels. Denise was a schoolmate and friend of Condoleezza Rice. She is buried in Elmwood Cemetery.
She even sounds like Breyani. This too is awesome to me.