Alabama – Birmingham (Mar 8, 2020)

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First when we arrived, we were staying at the Hidden Cove RV resort but could not stay there since we could not use our cell phones and our hotspots would not work. So we moved to the Quail Creek Golf Resort and Conference for $165 per week. This place actually worked out well as it was closer to Lorraine’s sister and closer to Huntsville. The resort has a small RV park but is in the process of expanding it. The sites are long and can handle a big rig like ours.

Our first trip was to Birmingham to visit the Birmingham Civil Rights museum. “Birmingham, Alabama, a city whose name is almost synonymous with the Civil Rights Movement, was the site of much bloodshed and strife as civil rights leaders faced strong opposition and the attempted destruction of their churches and meeting places. Birmingham struggled to shed the stigma of violence and injustice, and today is home to several memorials and one of the country’s premier civil rights museums. A visit to Birmingham offers a sobering and reflective experience for anyone interested in this important era of American history. “

Across the street is the Kelly Ingram Par that lays out the history also. This park is part of the Civil Rights Trail and is an “emotionally powerful sculptures depicting the civil rights struggle in Birmingham. The park served as an assembly spot for activities of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and other groups in the movement.” There are locals that you can walk with to tell you the story of all the monuments in the park. (As a side note, the Civil Rights Trail “is a collection of churches, courthouses, schools, museums and other landmarks in the Southern States where activists challenged segregation during the 1950s and 60s to advance social justice” across the nation”. )

The Four Spirits sculpture was unveiled at Kelly Ingram Park on September, 2013 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing.  designed as a memorial to the four girls killed in the bombing (which occurred on September 15, 1963), it depicts the four girls in preparation for the church sermon at the 16th Street Baptist Church in the moments immediately before the explosion. The youngest girl killed in the explosion (Carol Denise McNair) is depicted releasing six doves into the air as she stands tiptoed and barefooted upon a bench as another barefooted girl (Addie Mae Collins) is depicted kneeling upon the bench, affixing a dress sash to McNair; a third girl (Cynthia Wesley) is depicted sitting upon the bench alongside McNair and Collins with a book in her lap. The book depicts the refrain of William Butler Yeats poem “The Stolen Child“. The fourth girl (Carole Robertson) is depicted standing and smiling as she motions the other three girls to attend their church sermon.
This site is B1 on the Birmingham Trail
A water cannon
Depiction of children trying to avoid the water cannons.
This park was named after Osmond Kelly Ingram – who was the first American Sailor killed in action in WWI.
A destroyer was named after him.
Peace Be Still
The Foot Soldiers

After walking the park, we entered the Civil Rights Museum. Sundays are donation days so all entrance fees paid are donations. You can give any amount to enter but the usual fee is $15.

notice the cross on the right
Rosa Parks
This is the front of the bus from the previous picture. It was amazing that everyone survived.
Listened to his speech which is still has an impact
The Baptist Church were the girls were killed by the bomb.

Finally while we were driving around, we found this mural.

Overall, this visit was very heart wrenching but they did a great job showing the impact of the racism that occurred. We will keep looking for other areas on the trail going forward.

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