MONTGOMERY & BIRMINGHAM June 28, 2005

-- Ben Tepfer

“Sweet Home Alabama!” As we crossed the state line into Alabama from Georgia, that song echoed through the bus. We arrived in Montgomery and there we continued our journey. The first thing we did was stand at the site of the bus stop where Rosa Parks got onto the bus for one of the most famous rides of all time.

Similar to the feeling I had in front of Dr. King’s tomb yesterday, standing in front of the bus stop made me feel that I was completely within history. We then went into the Rosa Parks museum. The first stop was in an art gallery of painting made by African artists. I was particularly drawn towards a painting that was made up of a wide scheme of colors portraying African women with a variety of expressions on their faces. It really spoke to me in the sense that the term “color” represents more than their skin color but, more so, the color of what was inside.
Within the Rosa Parks museum we learned how hard it was to be African American during the Civil Rights Movement. It was a beautiful multimedia display that showed the history and the Rosa Parks bus incident.
Our next stop filled our stomachs as well as our hearts. Martha’s Place …home of some of the best fried chicken I have ever had. While the service wasn’t speedy…it was well worth the wait. After we ate, Martha, herself, came out to meet us. She told us her story of her will to overcome. Whether it was surgery, attempted suicide, doubt or welfare, Martha told us how she overcame.

Led by her belief in God, she followed her dreams to open a restaurant. Her words echoed through my mind and I got this feeling of true determination. Determination was a theme that echoed throughout the day.
From the power of Rosa Parks to that of Martha and then to the power of a man named Andrew and the organization he works for, the Southern Poverty Law Center. This is an group that fights hate groups.

Andrew told us how the SPLC has made changes stretching form the Klan’s murder of a African American woman to fighting the extremely unfair treatment of teens in prison. Andrew’s message to us was that Civil Rights is still a battle that needs to keep being fought.
An hour later we arrived in Birmingham, Alabama. We took a walk down “Freedom Walk” with an amazing man, Col. Stone Johnson. He has experienced the Civil Rights Movement. He walked with us and showed us statues commemorating the struggle that he was a part of.

While his voice may have been hard to hear, his story spoke loudly. We also went on a bus ride with him through parts of the city that were bombed, giving Birmingham the nickname, Bombingham. It was also stunning to see the extreme poverty of some of this city up close. It makes you wonder if and when money is spent in the right way.

After this we went to Five Points and had dinner at the Mellow Mushroom pizza restaurant and had some time to walk around that part of town.