Birmingham and Montgomery…on the Civil Rights Path
Monday, September 26th, 2011September 12th
On Monday morning, Meaghan had school and we needed to get on the road. We had to cross all of Alabama and decided to make a couple of stops along the way. The first stop was in Birmingham, Alabama which was an important place during the Civil Rights movement. We parked by the Civil Rights Institute and followed the historic path marking key events and location in the Birmingham boycotts. After having a picnic in the park- it was a beautiful sunny day- we continued the road to Montgomery, the capital of Alabama. We visited the Rosa Parks Museum. Rosa Parks is famous for starting events that led to desegregation. She, a young black woman, refused to give up her seat for a white passenger, leading to her arrest. The aftermath led to a boycott of Montgomery public transport for over a year, which almost put the buses and local businesses out of business. She was a key figure in the fight for Civil Rights and the museum was extremely engaging, using several forms of media to bring the events to life. After the museum, we made a stop by the capitol and saw the first White House of the Confederacy before it was moved to Richmond, Virginia.
After a day full of history, we camped near the Georgia border. The next day we would be back in Jacksonville where we started the trip seven months before.
Administrator