Day 2, what a day. We started our day heading to a crossroads to higher education for African Americans. Where Clark Atlanta, Spellman and Morehouse intersect, we discussed The Atlanta Student Movement
We discussed on the site of the former Yates and Milton Drug Store where students began to plan out the actions they would take to desegregate public and private facilities. These students were inspired by the sit-ins at Woolworth’s authored “An Appeal for Human Rights”. This appeal, as discussed, mirrors so many of the social issues affecting society today. This appeal for access to education, housing, voting, and opportunity in the workplace are still issues that are fought for today in many of the same communities where these students looked to see change made. Like many others, I walked away impressed by the PPS students that are on the trip with us. These students’ critical thinking and thoughtful questions impressed me. I couldn’t help but see the greatness and braveness of the students that were a part of the Atlanta Student Movement in our Pittsburgh Public Students. We talked yesterday at dinner about not teaching you what to believe, but how to think. These students were thinking. Mr. Person yesterday stated, “Don’t let somebody else do it, you do it.” That quote resonated with me through today’s stops as we read about, talked about, and walked in the footsteps of so many brave African Americans that came before use.
From the HBCU’s we headed to “Sweet Auburn” to see the John Lewis Mural.
Auburn Avenue, being the main thoroughfare of the black community of Atlanta, is a site that is being taken back through art. The Sweet Auburn Mural Project’s aim is to tell the story of the people through art. While we were all in awe of the John Lewis mural, right next to it was a small run-down building with a small mural and a name, Austin Thomas Walden.
A.T. Walden was a World War I veteran and an attorney who fought in federal court for equal pay for black teachers in Atlanta after the salaries of white teachers were raised by cutting the salary of its black teachers. Later, Walden was named a judge in the municipal courts of Atlanta becoming the first black judge in the state since the end of Reconstruction. The image above to the right is the current Walden Building. Standing empty long from its heyday. To the right is an image of Butler Street that I found while visiting the MLK Center. There it was, the Walden Building in its prime next to the YMCA that housed the black police force of Atlanta.
We then headed to the Hebrew Benevolent Congregation Temple. This beautiful temple was the site of an antisemitic attack that took place in 1958. Our guide, Barbara, did a great job of explaining elements of the Jewish faith to us. With her, what I take as southern charm, Barbara was welcoming, funny, and informative. It was great to hear about the temple’s commitment to social justice to this day. The summer school program being run at the temple that as we saw, served all, black and white children, voting registration from convicted criminals, and the night shelter that the temple runs. The night shelter made me think back to Mr. Person and his call to action for us today, which is similar to the call to action from Dr. King and that was taking care of the poor and destitute. From our various bus stops, we can see that there are still homeless people and people that continue to need guidance and support to get on the path or “in the box” as Barbara stated when talking about the threads.
The Martin Luther King Jr, National Historical Park and MLK Center offered us an opportunity to truly walk in the footsteps of greatness. From Dr. King’s childhood home to Ebenezer Baptist Church, we knew history was alive. Coretta Scott King’s committed to continuing the work of her husband and even after the tragedy that she dealt with the assassination of her husband, the commitment to the counterculture way of fighting back using non-violence as the weapon is powerful. Nonviolence isn’t for the weak, but for the brave, the strong, the most committed to the work that was being done to advance not just the black community, but society as a whole, by understanding the worth and value of all its people.
We ended our trip heading to Montgomery, Alabama to visit Holt St Baptist Church, Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, and the state capital. For me, taking the ride by bus, from Atlanta to Montgomery made me reflect on the rides that were taken 60 years ago to give me the ability to get off a bus and walk freely without fear into Love’s to use the restroom and buy snacks. The sacrifice of others is not lost on me, but I fear it may be lost if we don’t do our part to ensure the efforts of many before us are remembered and celebrated. Heading to Holt St. Baptist, I felt like I was transported back in time. This area wasn’t bustling like much of Atlanta. There was seemingly no business, homes were old and run down. I reflected on Dr. King referring to the dusty roads of the south and the slums of the north. Holt St. Baptist Chruch, being at the center of the Civil Rights Movement that had 5,000 people gathered to plan the bus boycott, seems to be forgotten. While we discussed building an interstate through a community, it seems this interstate cut in half the community. Making a movie reference, it’s like Radiator Springs in the Disney movie Cars.
Lastly, we headed to Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, where the irony of the state capital building perched above what can be considered the center of the civil rights movement. Steps away from where Jefferson Davis made his inauguration speech as the President of the Confederate States of America, across from where Dr. King’s speech at the conclusion of the march from Selma to Montgomery.
Of interest while walking the capital grounds, is the way that the state of Alabama tries to “explain” slavery and the injustices done to its black people throughout its history. The very general and passive way it goes about addressing slavery is interesting to put it nicely. Knowing that slaves made up roughly one-third of the state’s population, it is almost explained away as a necessity for the advancement of the state’s economy, In the placards around the capital area, I never saw one thing that seemed to speak out against the hundreds of years of enslavement, oppression, and murder, but only a glossed over version of the history of the state.
Other things of interest.
Walking around a seemingly empty downtown Montgomery, Lavarr, Megan and I came across several markers that pointed out Montgomery’s, for lack of a better term, thriving slave industry. From these markers, I learned that Montgomery had as many slave depots as it did hotels and banks in 1859. Meanwhile, much about the slave trade in Montgomery, we heard about from a homeless man while trying to find somewhere to eat.
The Winter Building. It was from this building that in 1861, a telegram was sent to Gen. Beauregard ordering the attack on Fort Sumter, hence starting the Civil War. Ironically enough, this building is directly across the street from where Rosa Parks made her decision to not give up her seat, and both across from Court Square, where slave auctions were held. For me, this completely unscripted walk, looking for something to eat with two of my peers, ended up with us uncovering so much history that it covered well over 100 years of history in an area that was less than a block and when thinking about it further provided an opportunity to see the height of the institution of slavery where hope seemed not to exist, to the message that started a war that ended slavery, to the start of a movement that changed society.
Although I know this blog is probably more than a blog, I will leave with this final thought. While day 2 gave me moments of frustration, as a whole I felt inspired to be amongst greatness.