Emotional day in Birmingham…
Prior to heading out for the day, we read an essay by Angela Davis entitled “Rape, Racism and the Myth of the Black Rapist.” I had read the essay this past semester in Dr. Hattery’s Social Inequality class. I tried to read it more critically this time, as opposed to reading it to interpret to answer a question on a test. That isn’t to say I didn’t read it with interest or appreciation for Angela Davis’ work before (I promise Dr. Hattery!!), but today I knew that I would be seeing Angela Davis’ house and meeting people who grew up with her, or at least knew her. Although Helen Shores Lee and her sister Barbara Lee did not talk about Angela Davis or vocalize any ideas about the period of time in which she wrote about, it still gave a different perspective to her writing.
I’ll get back to more about the Shores sisters and Ms. Peggy Heidi, all of whom talked to us about their experiences, but I’m actually writing now on Sunday morning and I have a few things I need to say. Last night after reflection I had a bit of a breakdown (nothing really horrible), which is why I’m writing now as opposed to last night. We take time every night to have reflections of the day as a group and discuss the things we saw and have the opportunity to ask our group members questions. Well during this time, I made a comment about how David and I walked into the restaurant with our arms around each other, joking around saying how we were going to cause some controversy. So I asked how people felt about making a joke out of it. Another student stated that especially in area like this it’s hard to make light of prejudice that could have been induced by our actions, because of the history in the area and the fact that people were killed over it. In the past I’ve been exposed to prejudice based on who I chose to date and I guess the comment that my peer made just put a very different perspective on that. I never had to worry that a guy I dated could be killed, simply because he was dating me. I took the fact that others were unjustly and brutally killed for my ability to date who I want completely for granted. Anyway the result of the realization was me holding back tears throughout part of the reflection period and bursting into tears after nearly everyone left. I’m sure I’m not the only one this will happen to, which is why I decided I would share. Someone had to be first right? J Anyway two of my classmates were with me as well as the leader of the reflection time, Marcus, and we had a really good discussion about a lot of things following my little freak out session. We’re going to see some very disturbing things and feel some emotions that are going to hurt, but I feel like its all part of a growing process. You need to make a bit of a mess to clean things up or in this case to grow.
So back to a more relevant topic…yesterday we went to Kelly Ingram Park, the park where the Children’s March took place. There were statues around the park depicting the violence the children faced by the police during the march. I’m sure someone’s posted pictures of them. I’m still working through how the park made me feel. Following that Helen Shores Lee, Barbara Shores and Peggy Heidi spoke with us about their experiences growing up in Birmingham on what is referred to as Dynamite Hill. They lived on the Center Street hill, which was divided racially by a bridge. It was really interesting to get a first hand perspective of some events that took place prior to and in the midst of the Civil Rights movement. The Shores sisters’ father was a prominent figure during the movement, so their family faced a lot of violence. As much as I enjoyed listening to the stories and learning more about the history from their perspective, the part of the day that affected me the most was going to the elementary school (the first integrated elementary school actually) that Ms. Heidi attended and seeing the place where the Ku Klux Klan burned crosses as an act of resistance and hatred against those attempting to integrate the school. I recently watched a show on the History Channel called something like The Secret Rituals of the KKK. I had that in the back of my mind as we were standing on the ground where that occurred. I really didn’t have pleasant pictures in my mind.
We will be attending a service at the 16th Street Baptist Church today. The same church where 4 girls were killed in a bombing and where the children congregated for the Children’s March to fill the jails of Birmingham. With that said, I need to go get ready.