Birmingham, Alabama

Will’s Report: Birmingham had the clear-cut second best campground of the whole trip so far (Tucson being #1 of course). We arrived on Monday, went swimming and hung out at the trailer for the remainder of the day. The following day, we got our school done early and I found a basketball hoop to play at for the next hour or so. After Myra and Zina finished school, we went to the Birmingham Museum of Civil Rights. It was a very chilling and eerie experience. The push for equal rights in the south was almost non-existent for 80 years after the Civil war, but then in the years 1950-1970, it ramped up considerably and the movement inspired the national government to re-rationalize laws regarding the equality of treatment, healthcare,  segregation, and employment of all citizens. The museum was very informing and educational. I would highly recommend it to any in the area. After going home and eating dinner, we did our preparatory study of the Holy Week to prepare for Easter Sunday. We learned and talked about the subtle ways that Jesus shows his perfect love for all of us. After reading, we all went to bed. The next day Mom and Dad went to the temple in the morning, so Myra and I were left in charge of Zina (large fiasco). After they got back, we went on an AMAZING hike that was very beautiful and had lots of great areas to climb rocks. Proceeding the hike was shoe shopping. Dad was in the market for a new Pair of Brooks Ghost and I also needed some new running shoes. After finding a good neutral pair of Brooks for Dad, I went over to the youth section of shoes only to find NOTHING that suited what we were looking for. I don’t think that Dick’s Sporting goods expects children to love Cross Country like I do. I hope that we will be able to find a good pair in the future. That sums up all that we did that day. The following morning, Mom and I shopped for groceries. After our excursion, I did my school, and we packed up the trailer. That brings me to where I am now. Onto Vicksburg! Overall Rating: 9.1/10

From Tamsin: We came to Birmingham for the express purpose of trying to connect with the challenges of the fight for Civil Rights so the highlight of our time in Birmingham was a visit to the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute.  It is very educational and eye opening.  We certainly were taught some of the facts of the fight for civil rights in school but it was better to go to the heart of the fight and glimpse the realities that are still faced.  It is one thing to see the discrepancy between the segregated facilities and another to internalize what it meant to be considered less than a person.  I keep coming back to thinking that even if you were considered a property or an animal, what would justify the civil rights fighters to be treated WORSE than any animal or property.  The peaceful demonstrators in Birmingham, a large number of them were youth, were arrested, beaten with police clubs, attacked by police dogs, and had fire hoses directed at them.  The picture of Zina with a mural is dedicated to these brave youth.  Martin Luther King, Jr. was arrested in this demonstration.  Local religious leaders had written to the newspaper to say that the demonstrator’s cause was just but it was the wrong time.  MLK responded with his “Letter from the Birmingham Jail” asking when would be the appropriate time when his daughter wanted to know why she couldn’t go to the amusement park and his son wondered by white people were so mean.”  It is so sad that a people had to work SO hard to be given basic human rights.  I am not naive enough to think this fight is over.  The exhibit said Birmingham had come a long way but said that the bottom scoring 75 Alabama High Schools are 90% black.  It makes me wonder what real things could be done to make progress.  I really appreciated my time in the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute.  Letting my kids learn from this visit was certainly a big reason to want to experience other areas of the country.  It is right across the street from the 16th Street Baptist Church, the church that was bombed killing 4 girls.  The pastor of the 16th Street Baptist Church was Rev. Shuttleworth, a key cog in the Birmingham Campaign and an associate of MLK.  The last picture is of Zina by the statue remembering the girls that is in Kelly Ingram Park, also across the street from the Institute and the site of the demonstrations.

Wednesday David and I took the opportunity to go to the temple while the kids entertained themselves and then we visited the Mossy Rock Preserve for a bit of nature time and then we did some shoe shopping and visited Ulta Beauty where Zina found some glitter eye shadow!