Tales of Tuskegee

The sun was shining this morning, and we were finally able to leave Montgomery.  Our plan was to drive east toward Tuskegee, Alabama.  The National Park Service administers two historic sites in Tuskegee:  Tuskegee Institute National Historic Site and Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site.  We wanted to visit both.

Tuskegee Institute National Historic Site is nestled within the historic campus of Tuskegee University and includes the George Washington Carver Museum and The Oaks, the home of Booker T. Washington who established Tuskegee Institute.  Tim and I had learned about Washington when we visited his boyhood home in December.

George Washington Carver Museum, Tuskegee Institute's Original Laundry

The Oaks, Home of Booker T. Washington

Tuskegee University is a beautiful campus, and many of the buildings constructed while Booker T. Washington was president are still standing.  Many of these buildings were actually constructed by the students from bricks that they had produced.  It was so pleasant to wander through the campus on such a beautiful day.

Thompkins Hall

White Hall

Legacy Walkway

Booker T. Washington Monument

Tim especially enjoyed talking with a volunteer at the museum, an elderly woman who moved to Tuskegee from New Jersey and raised her children there.  We spent quite a bit of time at the museum where we expanded our knowledge of George Washington Carver.  What an incredible man!  Born a slave, Carver developed a passion for knowledge.  Although most people associate Carver with developing new uses for peanuts, how many know that his first love was art?  Several of his paintings and drawings are on exhibit at the museum.

Carver's Painting Yucca Gloriosa Won an Honorable Mention
at the Chicago World's Fair in 1893

But Carver is best known as a scientist who reinvented agriculture in the South.  He encouraged farmers to grow a variety of crops, instead of relying on cotton which was depleting the soil.  In order to convince farmers that there was a market for alternative crops, such as peanuts and sweet potatoes, he researched dozens of ways to utilize these crops.  Carver was the most celebrated professor at Tuskegee Institute and worked tirelessly to educate not only its students, but also farmers throughout the South.

Tuskegee's Movable School Brought Education Directly to Farmers

One facet of Carver’s work that particularly intrigued me was the weight he placed on beauty.  Carver developed a rich array of inexpensive paint colors from local clays and demonstrated to impoverished farmers how pleasing color combinations could improve the looks of their homes.  He also provided farmers with flower seeds to plant near their homes to add a touch of beauty.

Rich Paint Colors for the Poor

It was coincidental that we visited Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site this week, just days after the release of Red Tails, George Lucas’ new movie about the Tuskegee Airmen.  Everyone we spoke with was so excited about the movie, which had been years in the making.

Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site tells the story of the African American men who arrived at Moton Field in 1941 to begin their training as Army Air Corps pilots.  The story of the Tuskegee Airmen is well-known, and it was really cool to walk through Hangar No. 1 where they learned to fly, hear about the obstacles the men had to overcome and listen to their voices through oral histories.  The exhibits here are very engaging.

Hangar No. 1

Biplanes Were Used to Train the Pilots

Another Training Plane

The park has not yet been fully developed, and plans are underway to expand the exhibit space into Hangar No. 2.  Plans are to bring a P-51 Mustang to the new space.  The P-51s were given the nickname Red Tails because of their distinctive red tails.  Now that would be something to see.  A highlight of our visit was speaking with a ranger who was so excited to share the story of these men and to separate fact from fiction. 

Hangar No. 2

We Didn't Blow Away!

Tim and I appreciate everyone’s concern about our well-being in lieu of the recent tornado activity in Alabama.  Rest assured that we’re just fine.  We had made the decision yesterday to stay put in Montgomery.  The weather ended up being ok yesterday afternoon, and it seemed like we would be able to leave this morning.

Overnight, however, tornados moved into Alabama from Arkansas, and two people were killed early this morning in the Birmingham area.  There was a tornado watch for our area until noon today, as well as a severe thunderstorm warning.  We looked at the area to our east, where we intended to go, and found that the storm was headed that way.  A tornado watch was in effect there until 4:00 pm.  There didn’t seem to be anywhere nearby without some kind of watch or warning.

So, we made the decision once again to stay put.  We may have been overly cautious, but we are in no hurry to get anywhere and wanted to play it safe.  Besides, it would have been no fun to be on the road, worrying about what the weather might do.

The weather turned nice this afternoon in Montgomery, and we took the opportunity to get out and purchase a few supplies, fill the propane tank, get the batteries checked out and make a run to the post office.  We had a successful day and felt like we accomplished at least a few things.

All Clear Now

The forecast looks promising for tomorrow, so it looks like we’ll be able to hit the road once again.

Storm Warning

As we were leaving our lunch spot in Montgomery, Alabama, yesterday afternoon, the skies opened up and the largest raindrops I’ve seen in a while left us drenched.  We made it back to the RV and began to seriously reconsider our next move.  We had listened to the weather last night and knew that storms were predicted, but did not pay too much attention to them.

I took a look at the weather forecast for Tuskegee, where we were heading, and saw that a tornado warning was in effect for the afternoon.  That was enough for me.  I’m never crazy about traveling in a storm, but I was not willing to tempt fate with the possibility of a tornado. We found a Drury Inn nearby and checked in.  It was nice to be out of the weather.

This is the second Drury Inn we’ve stayed in, and this chain is perfect for us.  It’s a nice chain, is very clean and is very pet-friendly, with nary an extra charge for a pet.  Happy hour and breakfast are included in the rate, so you don’t even have to leave the hotel if the weather is nasty.

We had planned to leave Montgomery this morning, but the weather forecast was not much better than yesterday.  No tornados were predicted, but severe thunderstorms were still in the forecast.  Plus, the fog was so dense this morning that we could barely see out our window.  It was an easy decision to stay put for another day and wait out the weather.  It’s so nice we have the flexibility to change our plans whenever we feel like it.

It Doesn't Look Good Where We're Heading

The View from Our Window at 10:00 am This Morning

The March Continues

After three weeks in Florida, Tim and I drove northward yesterday into Alabama.  Almost immediately, the topography began to change, and we saw rolling hills and deciduous trees for the first time in quite some time.  We also saw evidence of Alabama’s status of one of the poorest states in the country.

We made our way to Selma, Alabama, where we planned to start a tour of sites associated with the Civil Rights Movement.  Selma was the focus of the voting rights movement in the 1960s and was the beginning point of the fifty-four mile march to the state capitol in Montgomery in 1965.  In the days preceding the march, citizens were attacked by Alabama state troopers and a posse organized by Dallas County Sheriff Jim Clark as they crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge.  In what became known as “Bloody Sunday,” marchers were beaten with nightsticks and gassed with tear gas, as they were driven back through the streets of Selma.  Major news media recorded the horrific events, and the spotlight was on Selma.

Edmund Pettus Bridge

We Crossed the Bridge

One week later President Lyndon Johnson sent a voting rights bill to Congress.  When a judge lifted an injunction against another march, President Johnson ordered federal troops and national guardsmen to protect the marchers.  On March 21, 1965, a peaceful group of 4,000 individuals began the historic march to Montgomery.  The crowd grew to 25,000 as they approached the Alabama State Capitol, where Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., addressed the triumphant group.  The march was the impetus that enabled President Johnson to sign the Voting Rights Law into law on August 6.

The National Park Service interprets the Selma to Montgomery march as a National Historic Trail.  A new interpretive center in Selma is being developed to tell the story.  The Lowndes Interpretive Center, located halfway between Selma and Montgomery, already presents a compelling film and exhibits on the march and its context.  This center is located on the site of Tent City, an encampment established by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee to house tenant farmers and their families who were evicted by white landowners after the farmers registered to vote or participated in voting rights activities.

Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail Markers

The National Park Service Has Partnered with the City of Selma
to Open the Interpretive Center on the Corner

The Architecture of the Lowndes Interpretive Center
Recalls the Edmund Pettus Bridge and Brown Chapel A.M.E. Church

We finished tracing the march this morning in Montgomery, where we visited the Alabama State Capitol and the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, where Reverend King became pastor in 1955.  It was this church that served as the headquarters for the successful boycott of the Montgomery bus system in 1955-1956.

Alabama State Capitol

Dexter Avenue Baptist Church

The interpretation of the march tells an incredible story, but nothing has been as compelling for me as the Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery.  Here, sculptor Maya Lin, who also designed the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., created a “memorial to hope.”  The memorial honors those who died during the Civil Rights Movement and enables one to reflect on the ongoing struggle for equality.

Civil Rights Memorial

The memorial is simple, a circular black granite table that is etched with historic events that define the movement, as well as the names of those who were killed.  Water is a key feature, and it flows across the top.  I love to watch people touching the names on the monument through the water and see their reactions.  Touch is actually encouraged here.  It’s a very powerful thing.

Reflecting on the Names and Events of the Civil Rights Movement

A Touching Memorial

Adjacent to the memorial is the Civil Rights Memorial Center, which adds faces to the names on the memorial.  The center tells their stories, as well as more recent stories in the continuing quest for justice.  Unfortunately, the struggle is far from over, and the center reminds us that hate and intolerance are still with us.

At the end, the center invites visitors to take a pledge to work for justice by adding their names to the Wall of Tolerance.  Tim and I both took the pledge and committed ourselves to working in our daily lives for justice, equality and human rights.  Our names were then projected on the wall, and we joined the thousands of other individuals who have taken the pledge.  I cannot explain just how moving and meaningful this experience was.

Tim Took the Pledge

So Did Sarah