Roadtrip: Birmingham

Wednesday, June 22nd, we woke up in Bessemer, Alabama, a short drive from Birmingham, Alabama. We were also not a long drive from our final destination of Atlanta, Georgia, so we knew we could take a little bit of time in the morning.

We decided to visit the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute in downtown Birmingham, just across the street from the 16th Street Baptist Church and Kelly Ingram Park, which was the site of several protests.

Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take any pictures inside the museum, but I was very impressed by the hands-on exhibitions and the way the topic (civil rights) was presented and discussed. It was a very affecting museum and the video of MLK's "I Have a Dream" speech at the end of the exhibition left me in tears. I highly recommend a visit to this museum if you ever happen to be in the area.

It was starting to sprinkle when we emerged from the museum, so we just quickly crossed the street to take some photographs of the 16th Street Baptist Church which was bombed in 1963 during the height of the Civil Rights Movement.

Four young girls were killed during the bombing and the bombers were not convicted (and in some cases not convicted at all) until very recently.

It was incredibly powerful to be read about the church bombing and the trials against the bombers inside the Institute, while looking out the window to the actual church across the street.

While the Civil Rights Institute was very impressive, the rest of Birmingham, unfortunately, was rundown and rather depressing. After visiting the museum and surrounding area, we grabbed a quick lunch at Chick-fil-a and drove on to Altanta, where we would stay for two weeks, visiting David's family.