Today’s post is 1900 words, 35 photos, a 9 minute read. Enjoy!
Hi everyone,
This week I’ll take you back to Montgomery Alabama on a city tour with Jake Williams. We’ll also visit The National Memorial for Peace and Justice and the Hank Williams Museum. We’ll end with dinner at Wintzell’s Oyster House.
If you missed last week’s post on Montgomery click here.
On Tour with Jake
After coffee and breakfast as the hotel, we met Jake Williams in the lobby. The owner of Montgomery Tours, Jake would be our tour guide for the rest of the morning. He was born near Montgomery and as a 12 year-old boy, he participated in the Selma to Montgomery Voting Rights March. He walked the fourth day of the five day march, a distance of ten miles. He described himself as a product of the Civil Rights Movement, he lived it and shares his experiences with his guests. Jake graduated from Alabama State University with a degree in history. With that introduction, we boarded the mini-bus for a ride around the city.
Montgomery
As we pulled away from the hotel, Jake began sharing some of the history of Montgomery. It’s the capital city of the State of Alabama. With about 200,000 residents in the city (about 350,000 in the metro area), Montgomery is the third largest city in the state. Over 60% of the city residents identify as Black.
Founded in 1819 on the banks of the Alabama River, Montgomery was for a short time the capital of the Confederate States of America (CSA) before it was moved to Richmond, Virginia. The house where Jefferson Davis resided while in Montgomery was on the site where our hotel was located. It was moved to a lot across the street from the State Capitol. Across the street was where the CSA government offices were located. It’s now a parking garage.
After World War II, Montgomery was a site where African Americans pushed to regain their civil and voting rights. In 1955, Rosa Parks, an African American woman was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white man. This set off the Montgomery Bus Boycott that lasted 381 days until the U.S. Supreme Court declared the segregated bus laws unconstitutional. As I described in last week’s blog, the 1965 Selma to Montgomery March for voting rights led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Today, economic drivers, in addition to state government, include military and defense (a nearby Air Force base is the largest employer in the city), manufacturing (Hyundai), technology, logistics, healthcare, higher education, and tourism.
Rosa Parks
As mentioned above, the story and actions of Rose Parks loom large in the history of Montgomery. One of first stops on our tour was at the statute where she boarded the bus in near Court Square. Parks was employed as a seamstress and served as the secretary of the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). In this position, she advocated for those whose civil and legal rights were violated. The day she was arrested for not giving up her seat to a white man, Rosa Parks, was tired of giving in and her bursitis was acting up. When she refused, the bus driver called the police and she was arrested. This was the spark for the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
The then pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, Martin Luther King, Jr. and other Black leaders in the community gathered to initiate the boycott. After being found guilty in court, Ms. Parks and her husband Raymond both lost their jobs. They faced financial difficulties and she developed severe health problems. She and Raymond moved to Detroit where Rosa Parks lived until she passed away at age 92. There is so much more to know about this heroic figure. Check out the several books written about this remarkable pioneer. You’ll be glad you did.
Later in our tour, Jake took us past the apartment in the public housing community where Rosa Parks lived. It is now on the National Register of Historic Places.
On the grounds of the Alabama State Capitol is another statue of Rosa Parks. Interestingly, she faces Jefferson Davis on the other side of the sidewalk. A fitting juxtaposition and unwritten statement to her importance in the history of Alabama. 
I should mention that near Court Square is the Rosa Parks Museum on the campus of Troy University. Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to visit this well-regarded museum.
Court Square
Court Square is where Rosa Parks boarded the bus that led to her arrest. It was also the site of the slave market, pivotal in the Civil Rights Movement, and the place where the Selma to Montgomery march ended.
From Court Square we could look up Dexter Avenue towards the Alabama State Capitol.
Dexter Avenue Baptist Church
Between Court Square and the State Capitol is the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, now a National Historic Landmark. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was pastor at this church from 1954 to 1960. This church was influential in Montgomery’s African American community and hosted planning meetings for the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
Martin Luther King, Jr., his wife Coretta, and their children lived in the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church Pastorium during their time in Montgomery. During his time there, it was bombed at least twice. In one case, two suspects confessed but were acquitted by an all white jury.
Alabama State Capitol
Our tour was on a Sunday so the State Capitol was closed. The Capitol is home to the Governor with the rest of building serving as a museum. The state legislature meets across the street in the Alabama State House. The Capitol was built in 1851 after the state capital was moved in 1846 from Tuscaloosa to Montgomery. 
This photo looks down Dexter Avenue to Court Square. Dr. King gave a speech to 25,000 people from the steps of the State Capitol on March 25, 1965 at the conclusion of the 54 mile march from Selma to Montgomery. Even though the street was nearly deserted on the day of our visit, I could imagine the marchers and others listening to King eloquently saying: “How Long? Not Long, because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”
Freedom Rides Museum
Jake stopped for a few minutes in front of the Freedom Rides Museum dedicated to the hundreds of the Freedom Riders that travel to the South to challenge segregation and voter registration. This museum is located in the former Greyhound Bus Station, the site of the 1961 attack by white protesters upon Freedom Riders. Several were injured. 
Holt Street Baptist Church
The Holt Street Baptist Church, now a museum, was the site of a mass meeting on December 5, 1955 to discuss the continuation of the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Dr. King spoke these words: “there comes a time when people get tired of being trampled over by the iron feet of oppression” It was overwhelmingly decided to continue the boycott. It last 381 days. 
Across the street from Holt St. Baptist was this sign. Behind it is the interchange of I-65 and I-85 that cut through the black community in Montgomery displacing residents and lowering property values. It took 160 acres of land. Historians believe the intent was deliberate to punish and fragment the black community.
Alabama State University
Jake drove us through the campus of his alma mater Alabama State University, a public historically black university (HBCU). Established in 1867, ASU offers 47 degree programs including advanced degrees to about 6000 students. A couple of the many notable alumni are Reverend Ralph Abernathy and Reverend Dr. Fred Shuttlesworth, both ministers, civil rights leaders, and co-founders of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference dedicated to achieving racial equality through non-violent resistance.
ASU faculty and students were involved in the 1955-56 Montgomery Bus Boycott.
The birthplace of singer and musician, Nat King Cole, is now a historic site on the ASU campus. Cole was born in Montgomery in 1919 and died at age 45 of lung cancer in 1965. When he was four-years-old, the family moved to Chicago. He was active in the music business for over 30 years. 
Hank Williams
One of the sites on our tour of Montgomery was the Oakwood Annex Cemetery where Hank Williams and his wife Audrey are buried. Jake stopped for a few minutes for us to take photos. 
Later that day my Traveling Partner and I visited the Hank Williams Museum in downtown Montgomery. The museum has a large collection of Hank William’s memorabilia including some of his suits, iconic blue suede shoes, furniture, recordings, and records. The highlight was the blue 1952 Cadillac convertible that he died in at age 29. His heart failed, it was thought he have had Marfan’s Syndrome. He lived hard but was successful. No photos or videos were allowed inside the museum. The only exception is that the attendant can take a photo of visitors with the car.
Hank Williams was born in Mount Olive, Alabama in 1923. He began his music career in 1937. Williams had many hits like “Your Cheatin’ Heart,” “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry.” “Hey, Good Lookin’,”, “Jambalaya (On The Bayou),” and many more. The museum was interesting but I’d skip it if time is short.
A big thanks to Jake for a great tour. We saw and learned a lot.
The National Memorial for Peace and Justice
It was early afternoon when we walked over to The National Memorial for Peace and Justice. This Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) site opened in 2018 to commemorate the thousands of black victims of lynchings.
There were no photos or videos allowed in the memorial. After passing through security, we walked through the more than 800 steel rectangular monuments, one for each county where a terror lynching took place. We stopped many times to read the names and dates of people memorialized on the rusted monuments hanging from the ceiling. I was struck by one monument from Carroll County, Mississippi. On March 17, 1886, 23 unknown Black persons were lynched at the Carroll County Courthouse in Carrollton. It was done to create fear in the Black community and enforce white supremacy after the Civil War and Reconstruction. We don’t know the names so we can’t say them out loud to honor their presence on earth.
We spent about an hour and a half at this memorial. It is so well done and evokes sorrow yet memorializes that these events happened in our country. We should remember them especially as fear and intimidation tactics are being used in the present on immigrants and communities of color in the United States. We have to do better. Haven’t we learned anything from history? That’s why visiting sites like these are so important.
Final Reflections
For the past several weeks, I’ve shared my experiences in Birmingham, Selma, and Montgomery, Alabama. I saw and learned a lot during those ten days in the Deep South. I’m still processing my thoughts and learnings but I do know that it changed me. I’m more determined than ever to fight for civil rights for all peoples and the right to vote for U.S. citizens. Let us remember the legacy that the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Movements, their leaders including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and those who used their feet, votes, and voices to propel us forward.
That evening I had one of my favorite meals, boiled shrimp with corn and potatoes at Wintzell’s Oyster House. It was delicious!
Next week I’ll begin a long series of posts on a September journey to Austria and Germany.
THE FIVE SENSES PLUS ONE
Saw – a lot of historical sites, Alabama State Capitol, Freedom Ride Museum, Rosa Park sites, Hank Williams Museum, National Memorial for Peace and Justice
Heard – trains, car with loud muffler, sirens, country music
Touch – the bus, Rosa Parks statue, walls at National Memorial for Peace and Justice
Smell – diesel fuel, food cooking, fish, musty smell in coffee shop
Taste – Orange Blossom Pilsner, boiled shrimp
Learned – history of Alabama and Montgomery, more about Rosa Parks, the Confederacy
Until next week, happy travels!
Tom
PS: Click here for a link to the post about my book “Farm Boy.” Contact me if you are interested in purchasing a copy. Thanks to all have plunked down your hard earned dollars and read the book. TM