Today we spent the day visiting some historic civil rights places in Birmingham. Going into the day, I didn’t really have any great expectations. I thought that it would be a lot of stuff that would be interesting to see and learn about, but I didn’t really expect to be emotionally impacted by what I saw and learned.

We went to the part of Birmingham where the dividing line for the white and black parts of town was located. In this part of downtown, there are many churches and there is a park in the middle. 16^th Street Baptist Church is on one side of the park and various white churches are on the other side. The park in the middle was the place where many civil rights rallies, sit-ins and battles were fought. One of the most important of these events was the Children’s March that I talked a bit about yesterday. Standing in the park today, I was overwhelmed with feelings of guilt. All I could see are these poor, unassuming African American children who just wanted the same rights and privileges as their white counterparts. As a result, police blasted them with fire hoses and let dogs loose to attack them. Over and over I saw images of these children in my head, rolling down the street as a result of the force of the water and running in fear from the dogs that chased after them. It makes me embarrassed to be white and to be from the south.

After lunch, we got to talk with Judge Shores Lee and her sister, both of whom grew up on dynamite hill in Birmingham during the height of the civil rights movement. It was so fascinating to hear them talk about it all, especially because they experienced it all first hand. Judge Shores told us a story about how, when she was young, a park opened up near her house called Kiddie Land. She often drove past with her family, and once expressed to her father that she “just wished she could be white so I could do the same things as the other kids.” Her father responded to her, “you don’t wish you were white, you just wish you could go.” This was so powerful to me. At this point, and later that night in discussion groups, I had to stop and think about what why this affected me so much. It jarred me to think about not bring able to do something based on the color of my skin. It also upset me to think that a child would wish they were a different race than they are, in order to receive the same rights as any other person.

It reminded me of a time this fall in Dr. Hattery’s class when she asked us to think about being privileged. We had a discussion about having to think about our race, gender and sexual orientation. As it did during our class, it left me unsure of how to process the information given. We talked about how those in a situation of privilege don’t have to think about that fact. In fact, they don’t even really have to think about that component of their lives. Men don’t wake up in the morning and think about having to deal with being a man that day. Whites don’t have to wake up in the morning and think about having to deal with being white that day. On the flip side, women have to get up and think about the discrimination and other things they’re going to have to deal with due to their gender that day. African Americans have to get up and think about the injustice that will perpetrated against them because of their skin color. While, as a woman, I’ve gotten a small taste of what this would be like, I haven’t really experienced severe oppression because of it. I mean, I have to worry about things like having to work harder to prove myself and not wanting to walk places at night alone, however I don’t have to worry about being profiled every time I walk into a store. Listening to the emotions others in the class have expressed about the reality of their situations has saddened me and really kind of angered me about the kind of world in which we live. There is no reason for the stories that the boys tell to be the norm. Unfortunately, they are.

The knowledge of the liberties I have has reminded me of how lucky I am. But this hardly seems fair. I have done nothing to deserve that privilege. It was given to me by the luck of the draw, which makes our current world situation all the more ridiculous. We have no control over the color of skin our parents have, and thus, the color of skin we have. Yet we make all sorts of judgments and assumptions about someone on the basis of this attribute. Regardless, I know that I am fortunate in many ways. I could just sit back and be content and fulfilled by that fact…but if you know me even a little bit, you know that I won’t. These past two days have, if nothing else, reminded me of the importance of one of my favorite sayings: “with great privilege comes great responsibility.” I don’t know exactly what this will mean for my life yet. Somewhere I have a sneaking suspicion that this entire experience is going to lead to a desire to act and a calling for a lifetime of work to change.

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 really interesting and moving day, centered on the era of the civil rights movement in Birmingham, Alabama. The first part of the day involved a free hour where we were supposed to explore Kelly Ingram Park and the 16^th Street Baptist Church. I was very disappointed to hear that the church was closed for some reason, but the extra time spent in the park was really valuable. Kelly Ingram Park is where the children who were marching for civil rights during May 1963 were combated with fire hoses and vicious dogs. The park consisted of a “freedom walk” which circled around the park and featured various statues and sculptures commemorating the events. I felt it was really important to take the time and look at the statues to realize what had really happened on the very ground we were standing. It was hard to imagine the turmoil that went on over 40 years ago as we stood in this peaceful park; yet the statues cast a darker perspective on everything. There were two sculptures that left a huge impression on me. The first depicted the dogs used by police to halt the protesters, and the dogs were so realistic and terrifying that it literally sent chills down my spine to think about one of them coming after me. The next statue or sculpture of sorts that was really interesting to me had a bunch of children, and on the other side of the walkway were bars from a jail cell. Above the bars, the words “segregation is a sin” were imprinted, but the really curious thing about these words is that they were upside down. I don’t know what the significance of them being upside down was, but it really made you stop and think about the whole situation. My personal interpretation for this was that these protesting kids turned the civil rights movement upside down in sorts. It is easy to see the parallel because children, who normally have no say, were in this case the ones with the power who were causing problems for police, crowding the jails, and forcing action.

After taking in the park, we ate lunch at a soul food restaurant a couple blocks down the street, and then moved on to what I thought was the highlight of the day. We met in the Civil Rights Museum to listen to Helen Shores Lee, Barbara Shores, and Peggy Heidi tell us about what it was like growing up in Birmingham during that era. They told a lot of stories and really gave great insight into what it was like growing up that time as either a white or black child. The Shores sisters spoke about their house being bombed twice within a week and a half. Thank goodness nobody was hurt. These stories really put you into a different mindset about the whole civil rights movement because it is one thing to watch a documentary and read about what happened, but it is completely different when real live people are sitting in front of you telling their story. This was definitely the highlight of the day for me, as everything those ladies had to say and share with us was meaningful. I am on this trip to learn about these types of issues, and this was the first time that I really felt like had an understanding of the situation rather than just an appreciation of what happened. There was much more to the afternoon we spent with these ladies, as Ms. Heidi took us on a bus tour of Dynamite Hill, and we were able to stop in and visit the house where her grandmother used to live. We also saw the house that Angela Davis grew up in across the street, and stopped by the first elementary school to be integrated in Birmingham, where crosses were burned on a regular basis.

After the tour, we went back to the hotel for a couple of hours, and then our night time activities included eating dinner at a famous barbecue place with a Wake Forest alum from Birmingham, and a nice group reflection on the day. I really felt like our reflection time was a great way to end the day because it allowed the students to meet with Marcus and discuss what we felt was important about the day. Our group dynamic really seems to come out during these reflections, and it’s great to be able to talk about the different ways things affected different people, and to bring in multiple perspectives. Tomorrow we will finally get to go inside the 16^th Street Baptist Church when we attend service there, and I am really looking forward to that. It should be a really interesting cultural and religious experience. I’m expecting it to be completely different from the Catholic masses I’m used to attending, and I can’t wait to see if this is true.

Today was a powerful day for me. Everything so far has been even better than I expected. It was disappointing that the 16^th Street Baptist Church wasn’t open, but the park and museum were more than enough to do in the time we had. We watched a movie in the museum, and looked at very interactive and intriguing models of different aspects of the civil rights movement, such as KKK members, segregation in schools, buses, and other public places, and timelines depicting significant protests. I wish we had had more time, as this is one of the most fascinating historical sites I have ever been to. We went into the museum with a family reunion group that was entirely African American, and I couldn’t help noticing a few looks we got as we went in, possibly due to the fact that our group was composed of both African Americans and Caucasians, or maybe just simply thinking Caucasians were out of place in a memorial such as we were in.

It was surreal to be in the actual place where children were so ruthlessly brutalized by dogs, high powered water guns, and other weapons during their nonviolent protests. I was completely speechless as to how to react, and felt extremely close to the incidents that happened just by walking through the park. The statues were powerful representations evicting fear and restlessness in everyone that was walking in a group with me. I was glad to have seen the movie before to fully understand the significance of where we were, and what effect the March had on the future of African Americans and our country as a whole.

I can’t say enough about how captivating and powerful what Peggy Heidi, Barbara Shores and Helen Shores Lee had to say was. I have never been exposed to such examples of racism as close as just hearing it from an African American in a way we did today. Even if I were to read their exact testimonies in a text book or watch it in a movie, it couldn’t possibly have the impact that hearing them talk and seeing their faces had on me today. I don’t think anyone can say they have never prejudiced someone else, or discriminated against or stereotyped another individual on the basis of race at sometime in their life, even if they just thought it in their head. I am not exempt from this at all myself either. I can honestly say after the events of today, particularly hearing these courageous women speak, that I have spent a lot of time, and will continue to think further, about any ways in which I could possibly be a perpetrator of negative stereotyping towards others myself, and how I can go about changing that in my thoughts and actions. I have never had any other event or message reach me in the way that today has.

This emotionally exhilarating day was followed by literally one of the best dinners of my life. We ate at a place called Farmland BBQ, serving ribs that are definitely famous for a reason. I have never had any that begin to compare. Combined with potato salad and banana pudding, this meal was to die for.

Now, I’m just relaxing with some of the new friends I have met, thinking how amazing and life changing this experience is after just two days.

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!