Montgomery

I took a little “technology time-out” from the blog to learn how to use our new Smartphones. I’m a little embarrassed to say how much I like my new device.

We spent two nights and the better part of two days in Montgomery, Alabama and really enjoyed ourselves. Our main attraction was a tour of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, the church where MLK was the pastor during the Selma to Montgomery March and the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

I knew the march ended at the Alabama Capitol but I didn’t realize MLK’s church was just yards from there.

We stayed the Hampton Inn Downtown which is a nicely restored old building with modern rooms. It was within walking distance (even in the Alabama heat) of everything we wanted to do.

After some Alabama-style BBQ, we got a good night’s sleep and were off to enjoy our tour of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church.

We toured with a group of teachers who were at a seminar at the nearby Southern Poverty Law Center. Our tour guide was wonderful and insisted we all take some pictures at the end of the tour. The others were impressed (?) that we still had a “real” camera and not a Smartphone camera.

After our tour, we walked to the Alabama State Capitol where we were allowed to wander around on our own.

It was very strange to see how much the Confederate and George Wallace are still honored especially after just touring the MLK Church.

We noticed George Wallace was the only governor who had his portrait painted with the confederate flag in it. Hmmm……

We had lunch at Chris’ Famous Dogs. It was as “historic” looking on the inside as it was on the outside. The waiter seemed to enjoy chatting with us and came to check on us several times. Impressive service for a hot dog restaurant…. we think he liked our accent.

After lunch, we checked out a bunch of signs (let’s call it a “self-guided walking tour”). Montgomery has done a good job explaining their very difficult history. In the 1800s, they were one of the major centers for slave trade and then in the 20th century, they were a major center for segregation.

We enjoyed a visit to the Rosa Parks Museum before heading back to the hotel for some R&R in the air-conditioning.

 

It was really interesting to be here when we were. This was right when the Black Lives Matters protests were in their height as well as right after the shooting of the police officers in Dallas.