If yesterday’s experience with Mrs. Heidi, Judge Shores-Lee and Ms. Shores was just a glimpse of what we’re going to be in for during the remainder of this trip, I’m going to be completely blown away by the end of this experience. Everyone on this trip has heard about the conditions in the south and what people had to go through in terms of the blatant racism, but hearing the first hand testimonies of these women about how it actually happened, I was totally taken aback and engaged on a completely different level from what I had been earlier on this trip.

Again, we had some absolutely amazing food at Mrs. B’s for lunch and at Dreamland BBQ for dinner, despite the messy nature of the food. I’m going to have to agree with Susan Smith about the banana pudding…I kinda wanted to steal it and take it all for myself!

During our time in Kelly Ingram Park, there was an anti-violence/save our streets type of rally going on with information from difference civic groups. While I’m very excited that the people of Birmingham are engaging in this type of activity, I feel that I was distracted by the speakers when I was attempting to fully engage in the historic aura of the park.

Last night after our reflections, I was sitting outside speaking with two women from Kent, England and we were discussing what had brought all of us to Birmingham and I was sharing some pictures from our day in Kelly Ingram Park and a little bit of background about why we were here for this class. They were very kind and interested in the trip as well as to know what I had to tell them about the history of this area.

I’m very excited to be going to the 16th Street Baptist Church this morning for their religious service as well as to get a feel for the church as the four young women did the day that they were martyred.

Inspiring Talk by Ms. Heidi and the Shore Sisters

This is my first trip to the Deep South and I wasn’t sure what to expect. I really didn’t have any preconception of what Birmingham would look like and had only a vague notion of the major turmoil that took place here. It was helpful to see the film and hear students’ reports on Friday as it set up some context for me.

As I am sure is the case with many others, our meeting with Ms. Heidi, Judge Helen Shores Lees and Barbara Shore was the highlight of my day. It’s one thing to read about the bombings and racial divides in an abstract way. Hearing about it on a personal level from people who lived through it was powerful.

I haven’t had much experience hearing people admit to their prejudices in a public forum. If they’ve worked through it, I assumed they did so quietly, as it’s nothing to brag about. I admire Ms. Heidi’s willingness to lay it out there for us. It really helped me to understand the issues better.

Mrs. B’s served up another great southern eating experience (once I got past the fly strips hanging over the serving area). But don’t try the bean pie, it was nasty. DreamLand’s banana pudding more than made up for it though, it was some of the best I ever ate!

DreamLand BBQ

 Today was a memorable day. The day started with a technology discussion to get everyone comfortable with the course web site. It was a very efficient talk and it prepared me to begin the day. Our agenda was to explore the 16th Street Baptist Church, Kelly Ingram Park and the  National Civil Rights Institute.  Unfortunately, the 16th Street Baptist Church was closed for Memorial Day. We were unable to go in the church today but tomorrow morning we will attend the service. However, being at Kelly Ingram Park was  a great time to personally reflect on the Children’s March and all that people in the past did so I would be able to come there in 2007 with a group of students from Wake Forest University. Interestingly enough, there was a peace rally going on at Kelly Ingram Park by the SCLC, and in a way it was a full circle moment. The Birmingham Civil Rights Institute was a great experience as well. I was able to tour some of the museum but time constraints permitted and others from the group to finish exploring the museum. My favorite part of the musuem was the Confrontation Gallery, where we could hear the voices of adults, children, Whites and Blacks say things that they would only say behind closed doors. The question that the exhibit makes you ask yourself is, “Could that have been my voice?” After leaving the institute, we ate lunch at Mrs. B’s, a soul food cafe down the street from the church, park and museum.  Southern cooking is one of my favorite aspects of Southern culture. Mrs. B’s is well known and in the restaurant there are pictures of celebrities who have come and enjoyed the great food.

My favorite part of the day was the talk with Judge Helen Shores Lee, Mrs. Barbara Shores, and  Mrs. Peggy Heidi. The discussion was really personal and I loved the bond that the Shores sisters had with one another. This form of oral history is one of the fascinating ways to learn espcially for a Southern topic because of the importance of conversation for Southerners.  I enjoyed hearing the perspective of the bombings from both Black and White citizens of Dynamite Hill and how they both were affected by the bombings and prejudice in general. Mrs. Heidi represented a view point that is rarely depicted when discussing the Civil Rights Movement and the importance of a city like Birmingham in the movment. After the discussion, we were able to take a tour with Mrs. Heidi and it was a great experience to see the childhood home of Black Panther/Activist, Angela Davis. It is interesting to think of the racial and socio economic dynamics of Dynamite Hill during the Civil Rights Movement and present day. It seemed as if the street is now mostly Black, low to middle class families that live there.

Lastly, tonight we ate dinner at DreamLand BBQ with a Wake Forest alumnus, Cameron Cole. Cole is a native of Birmingham and he is the reason why we were able to meet with Mrs. Heidi and the Shores sisters today. Dinner was great and  seemed to make everyone feel at home because of the relaxed atmosphere.

Today we toured downtown Birmingham, from the 16th Street Baptist Church to Dynamite Hill down the road. We began by walking around the church (it was closed for Memorial Day weekend), and then strolling Kelly Ingram Park. At this park is where the Children’s March took place, a time when local children marched for freedom instead of adults, in hopes that they would not get arrested and the adults would not lose their jobs. Unfortunately, the children were severely hurt. The statues throughout the park depicted the violence that occured that day, and they were very powerful. One statue in particular, one where violent dogs are being held back police officers, stands out in my mind. I can’t imagine how scary that day must have been. This park was the divide in the city between the blacks and the whites, which is why the commotion took place there; after people saw the brutality of it all- even to the children- they realized that change needed to happen. But despite this violence on behalf of the police officers, the African-Americans were committed to remaining non-violent. I couldn’t believe how scary that must have been, yet remaining peaceful amidst this chaos deserves the most honorable respect I could ever imagine.

After Kelly Ingram Park we explored the Civil Rights Institute across the street. We saw old signs that divided the whites from the “colored” for everything from drinking fountains to buses. The pictures were shocking, but what really surprised me was the statistics about the differences in education among whites and blacks. Whites had incredibly more funding and the classes were the traditional sort; for African-Americans, however, the classes were agrarian or vocational. I couldn’t believe that the state would allow such discrepancies, and it made me realize that you can’t always trust the government to be fair.

For lunch we went to “Mrs. B’s on Fourth,” another typical Southern dining restaurant. I thought everyone was nice and friendly but later that night, DJ mentioned that the employees didn’t like serving the white girls in our group. I was really surprised that I had not even realized the “tension” in the room, but I guess it makes sense. I guess since I am not in a minority group, being an “outsider” does not usually cross my mind. It must be hard to be aware of these observations all the time; I can’t even imagine what the would be like. At first when I heard that I was a little bothered; I felt like I wanted to tell them that I wasn’t any different than their other customers. Perhaps this preconceived notion of who individuals are is at the heart of the problem.

Later in the day, we heard Mrs. Heidi and the Shores sisters talked about growing up in Birmingham during the Civil Rights Movement. Mrs. Heidi lived down the street from the Shores sisters, whose father was Arthur Shores (famous attorney). These women barely interacted throught childhood because Mrs. Heidi is white and the sisters are African-American; paradoxical to the time, the Shores family was much wealthier than the Heidi family. This was surprising to hear, and points to the importance of intersectionality when observing people and situations. These women told fascinating stories about life in Birmingham during the Civil Rights Movement. They both lived on “Dynamite Hill,” notoriously named due to the neighborhood’s tendency to get bombed. Ms. Helen Shores talked about how she was not able to go to Kiddieland, an amusement park, when she was young; this was dissapointing to her, clearly. Her family particularly lived in fear because her father’s prominence in the political sphere made them an easy target. I wasn’t shocked by the Shores’ stories, but hearing about these problems firsthand made me ponder how devastating it would be to live in a place where you aren’t accepted because of physical appearance. The ways in which these sisters were discriminated against also exceeded my previous understandings. At the end of the talk, Mrs. Heidi said something that made me look at the 1950-60s in a completely different way. She said that this time was difficult for everyone because everyone lived in fear each day. Once I thought about it, the more I felt that this movement was needed for the entire community, and that when one group is oppressed, it is detrimental for everyone. Mrs. Heidi’s comment make me feel attached and connected to the problems that everyone faced fourty years ago.

After we talked for a while, Mrs. Heidi took us to see the first elementary school that desegregated in Bermingham. The house she grew up in was right near the school, and she often saw a burning cross left from the KKK in the mornings. I can’t imagine waking up to find a burning cross in the back of a school!