Day 6 Montgomery and Mobile

Spent the morning in downtown Montgomery with a few more people hanging around. They all looked well rested. I started with a tour of the Rosa Parks museum, which was fantastic. The children's portion of the museum had a huge mechanical bus that you rode through time. It was as if Disney World and the Montgomery Bus Boycott ran really hard into each other. I recommend it to anyone traveling through the town. I then went to the Civil Rights Institute, which is run by the Southern Poverty Law Center. It also has the Civil Rights Monument, which was designed by Maya Linn. The museum and monument are simple but powerful -- very hard hitting and well done. In the afternoon, I headed to an art exhibit on slavery on Alabama State's campus. It was my time to leave Montgomery and head south down I-65 to Mobile, Alabama. Arrived and am staying in a nice old Victorian home with the friendliest inn keepers. Ate dinner at Wintzells, a local seafood favorite. Walked around downtown and spent my night chatting with a tattooo artist and a local independent movie theater owner. Great day in which I reveled in history and never stopped sweating.

Montgomery Day 5

Spent my day in a sleepy Montgomery city. The picture to the left is the main street in downtown Montgomery on Sunday. I was able to walk down the entire street and never run into a car. These people really take their day of rest seriously.
Started the day attending a church service at Dexter Baptist church, a very important church during the Civil Rights Movement as well as a church where MLK Jr. was the pastor. It was an incredibly welcoming community and a very lively group. It is said that if you do not believe segregation is still alive, look at America on a Sunday morning. "Unfortunately, most of the major denominations still practice segregation in local churches, hospitals, schools, and other church institutions. It is appalling that the most segregated hour of Christian America is eleven o'clock on Sunday morning, the same hour when many are standing to sing: "In Christ There Is No East Nor West." ~Martin Luther King, Jr., Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story, 1958. I was able to see this first hand today in many churches around Montgomery. After church I walked around a very vacant city taking pictures of the state capitol building and Civil Rights Monument. A sleepy but restful day in a very quiet town.

Day 4 Selma and Montgomery

Woke up bright and early to go on a run through downtown Selma and was mesmerized by the city. Selma is one of those towns I will never forget. Then I went on a tour of the history of Civil Rights of the town with Joanne Bland, which was absolutely incredible and moving. www.journeyforthesoul.com/home.html
I was fighting back tears during our journey through Selma. I was then able to visit the Voting Rights Museum and the Slavery museum. Did some interviews with different people while eating a ton of peaches (I really only eat Bar-B-Q and peaches). Drove to Lowndes County next, which is the poorest county in Alabama. Its history is is quite fascinating. After the voting rights act was passed by the federal government, all farm workers in Lowndes County were forced out of their homes (because the plantation owners were furious). In boycott and because of the fact that all of us want to live at home, they lived in tents for 2 1/2 years. Crazy, bold, brave, and a story rarely heard. Many more just like that learned today. Ended my night eating at Dreamland Bar-B-Q in downtown Montgomery and watching live country music with UN generals from France, England, Korea and Australia (we all stuck out:) Great group of people.

Day 3 Birmingham and Selma

As I sit down to type this, I am realizing how many incredible things and stories happen during one day. I will never be able to capture them all on this blog for fear of boring everyone to death. I will write them all down and hopefully be able to share them with you all when I return home.
Today started with a tour of the 16th street baptist church (site of bombing and death of 4 girls during Civil Rights movement) "Four Little Girls" is a great film by Spike Lee about this event. I then visited the Civil Rights Institute located in downtown Birmingham. It was an incredible museum done incredibly well and very well funded. If you ever visit this city, you must see this museum. I then wandered the streets taking pictures of various monuments and interesting buildings. I spoke with some incredible youth who are giving tours as a summer job through the institute. I ended my time hanging out with Ben Lee at the Birmingham Art Museum (picture above). Then I drove south to Selma, AL. I am staying at the St. James Hotel, which is a really old and fantastic historic hotel on the river (www.historichotels.org/hotel/St_James_Hotel_Selma) Since arriving here I have been at a Michael Jackson party, a tent revival, and had a lengthy conversation with an African-American bartender about life in Selma. I asked her what people do for work here..... she answered very simply and said "pray" (pray for work that is). Very interesting. I am loving learning from the people and exploring.

Tomorrow: Voting Rights Museum, tour of Selma with a local woman named Joanne, Slavery Museum, and then driving to Montgomery for the night.

Day 2 Atlanta and Birmingham

Spent the early morning at the International Community School in Decatur, GA. It is a fantastic model for building diverse communities; they currently have students from over 50 different countries. You can read more at http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/24/us/24cnd-school.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=international%20community%20school&st=cse
The rest of the day and afternoon was spent at the King Center in Atlanta. I saw MLK's house, grave, and general museum. I was honored to see all of it but was a bit disappointed with the design and what appears to be lack of money spent on the museum. The neighborhood is really deteriorating, which is sad knowing its legacy was one of the most prominent African-American neighborhoods. I then had to get the heck out of Atlanta because the traffic was really getting to me.
Birmingham has been amazing. I wandered around downtown and ran into a fantastic local guy that showed me around. He told me stories of the KKK marching down his street and about his going to an all white school in the 90's. He was a very kind and open soul whom I am glad I was able to learn from. He also made sure I was safely walked around the town and back to my hotel. People are so respectful and gentlemanly down here. Finished the night interviewing an African-American women who works at my hotel. She was very candid about how recently she has experienced vivid racism. It looks as if Birmingham is still trying to heal.

Tomorrow: Civil Rights Institute, 16th st. Baptist church, and then on to Selma, AL.

Atlanta Day 1

Due to the weather in the eastern part of the U.S. I arrived in Atlanta at noon. It has been a whirlwind, but I hit the ground running. Spent the beginning part of my day talking with people and learning about South Atlanta (Peoplestown and Pittsburgh). It was very educational; I met some inspiring people and was astounded with the number of boarded up houses (somewhere close to 100 that I counted). I then went to Buckhead, where I saw a very wealthy neighborhood and talked with two interesting residents of that area. I ended up eating dinner with the current Jesuit Volunteers in Atlanta and met some outstanding residents of South Atlanta (pictured above)

Thoughts of the day: Taking pictures of people is challenging and feels condescending at times. I was watched very carefully by the residents of South Atlanta (a young white girl hanging out of my car window with a video camera is strange, I agree). White people are much harder to convince to talk about race or be on camera.... to solve this problem I find the white people at their place, Starbucks.
There were 20 kids playing outside in the streets when I left dinner.. where are their mothers? They are making money in one of the only industries for a woman in the neighborhood...exotic dancing. In the picture above the little boy in the red shirt grabbed my hand and looked up at me with trusting eyes as I was starting to leave. He asked if I would come back again sometime soon... so much kindness and openness in the youth of America.

Today it begins...

Heading out today for Atlanta. I wanted to include a little precursory work I have been up to in order to build quick rapport with the Southerners. Shown below is a picture of a corral, or round pen, built by a dear friend and me in Colorado. I will post more later once I'm in Hotlanta tonight.

Welcome

The rumor is true... someone has been gracious enough to give me money to travel through the southeast to film a documentary. The tentative date for my trip is June 23rd-July 11th (could extend longer). Hoping to meet up with people along the route, so if anyone knows cool or interesting people, family included, it would be great to contact them. I will be posting stories, musings, and pictures from the road, so keep checking back in...