Southern Poverty Law Center
The fountain memorial outside the Southern Poverty Law Center in downtown Montgomery was really interesting. We were all kind of just drawn to it and to play with the water and once we got to it were able to read the important dates including all of the demonstrations we have learned about on the trip so far. Reading all the plaques on the wall inside the center commemorating 40 various people who died during the struggle emphasized how many people were innocently killed who were not even protesting. There were stories of high school kids getting shot on their way home from school or to basketball practice and even a young man shot and killed who was only dancing at a club The wall includes white and black people that were murdered and in the next room of the center there is an interactive wall of peace for people to sign and pledge tolerance. It was exciting to see all of our names being added and scrolled down the wall along with others such as Morris Dees. We were also shown the locations of several hate groups that exist today in each state of the US such as neo Nazis and neo confederates. After hearing about court cases and law suites to finally dissemble the United Klansmen of America and then seeing how many other groups that continue to exist reiterates the goal of this course-to learn the history and the progression but also be mindful of what still needs to be done in this country to ensure equality.
Stopping in Selma to walk the Edmund Pettis Bridge was fun because we got to walk in a group exactly where the march had taken place just in the opposite direction. The bridge is rounded so much that when you are walking you cannot see the other end until you get to the middle which is when the marchers caught sight of the massive amounts of police officers blocking the exit. As a couple people in our group were scared to walk the bridge from fear of heights we can only imagine what it must have been like to be walking in the heat and so motivated to march for voting rights only to be suddenly stopped without a safe getaway. After our short bridge stop in Selma we got some food and headed to Bay St. Louis on a long bus ride that was entirely dedicated to class time, Spike Lee’s movie about the 16th Street Baptist church bombing, and a CNN coverage on the affects of Katrina in our destination town but no nap time!