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.