The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battle-field, and patriot grave, to every living heart and hearth-stone, all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.
Source: Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, edited by Roy P. Basler et al.
Lincoln’s First Inaugural address
I have only been to Alabama once, and of the fifty states it is the only state where I have not spent the night. But the day I spent in Alabama left me with many memories and emotions. We drove the route from Selma to Montgomery, albeit we actually did the reverse, Montgomery to Selma. It was March of 2014 at the beginning of the epic road trip Harold and I took from Edisto, South Carolina to Kearney, Nebraska to see the sandhill cranes. The day in Alabama was devoted to learning about civil rights and learn we did. The morning started warm and sunny as we left Georgia and crossed the state line into Alabama. The spring daffodils were blooming like weeds in many of the roadside ditches. We thought it would be a Sunday like any other fine spring Sunday in the South and we headed into Montgomery.
Since it was Sunday morning none of museums were open yet and we could not visit some of the iconic sites of the civil rights era, but we decided to at least drive by the Southern Poverty Law Center and take a quick picture of the quotation on the front of the building. The quote by Martin Luther King from the Book of Amos reminds us that “we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream.” Harold stopped the car on the deserted street and I hopped out with my camera. Before I could snap a picture this siren sounded and a voice boomed out of the building telling me it was illegal to stop in front of the building and that we must move immediately. I jumped into the car and Harold sped away. I have never felt the same about Alabama or the Southern Poverty Law Center since that day. I realize they must have real security concerns, but the entire ambience was troubling and off putting. I am afraid that my memory of Montgomery is not a good one. But yet it is probably better than the memories Rosa Parks had of her arrest for not giving up her seat on the bus.
If you want to learn about the civil rights struggle in the United States, Montgomery is the city that can provide the learning experience. https://civilrightstravel.com/montgomery-civil-rights-museum-and-lynching/ If I ever return to Alabama my visit to Montgomery will not be on a Sunday with little or no planning. Now that I have ventured through the city I know that there is a lot to see and do there including a well planned walking tour. We drove out of town and headed for Selma.
We followed the national historic roadway that is administered by the National Park Service and runs from Selma to Montgomery. https://www.nps.gov/semo/index.htm It is a fifty four mile trail but takes a few hours to complete because of the many stops along the way. The Lowndes Interpretative Center at approximately the halfway point is an interesting place to explore. The journey ends when you arrive in Montgomery at the State Capitol building where Martin Luther King addressed a crowd of 25,000 at the conclusion of the Selma to Montgomery march in March of 1965.
Eventually we pushed on to Selma. It was there that we learned that this day was no ordinary beautiful March Sunday in the South. In Selma they were remembering March 7, 1965, which has come to be known as “Bloody Sunday.” A group of protestors, led by Congressman John Lewis among others, were brutally attacked by law enforcement officers and their vicious dogs. They were trying to march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge which heads out of Selma when the attack occurred. They were met by state troopers and armed vigilantes at the end of the bridge. A melee ensued and hundreds were injured. In commemoration of the events on the Sunday we happened to visit the bridge was closed to all but pedestrians and we had the privilege of walking over the bridge and back with hundreds of other visitors. It was an emotional experience for Harold and me. https://www.nps.gov/semo/learn/historyculture/bloody-sunday.htm
We spent the better part of the afternoon exploring the visitors’ center at the foot the bridge, watching films and reading exhibits. Of course the huge attendance at the commemorative events meant that there was not a room to be had in Selma and that is the sole reason I never spent the night in Alabama. I just wish more Americans would drive the road from Selma to Montgomery and visit the sites along the way. https://www.nps.gov/semo/index.htm The National Park Service has packed a lot of valuable information into its Interpretative Center and there is much to be learned about our nation’s not so long ago history at this spot.
Do I have nothing else to offer about traveling to Alabama? Well, many folks swear by Gulf Shores and other towns along the the Gulf Coast of Alabama. I myself have never been and it has never been a priority for me to visit. Except for Edisto in South Carolina I am not really a beachie sort of person. I love the ocean and I love living on the jagged edge on my island in the Bay of Fundy. I like to take a walk along a semi deserted beach wherever I find one, provided the temperature is no more than 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Don’t know when or if I will travel to Gulf Shores and overnight in Alabama. Perhaps someday I will, when the “better angels of our nature” stir the “mystic chords of memory.” I do love that Lincoln quote.
Memories - A Second Chance at Happiness 