Sunday the 20th we went to Ebenezer Church in Atlanta and actually got to see Dr.Kings home.When we were allowed to wander the Martin Luther King Historic site I especially was touched by the museum that was own and operated by the King family. Because of the minor details that were in the museum. Like his shoes or his wallet or his suitcase that he used and the clothes that would be in it. To me this was just as powerful as any other type of exhibition because it not just showed the events of the Civil Rights Movement but who he was as a man. And also it gave incite into Coretta's life as well which I really appreciated because we do not see her story often.
When we left, we went to Birmingham, Al we went to the Civil Right Institute which was literally across the street from Kelly Ingram Park and the 16th Baptist Church. The Civil Rights Institute in particular drummed up some intense emotions in me. Anger being the main one, just because the realistic exhibitions in my opinion put you right in the steps of the movement. And highlighted things like the internal struggle of opposition of some friends and family such as the conversation that a man and his wife had about her going to a meeting. Or the bar owner closing his shop to attend. Also the statues that were in the museum had a very heightened sense of realism like the little girl standing ,sadness all across her face outside the soda shop while two white teenagers laughed it up on the inside. This resonated with me and coupled with being in such close proximity to where Project C and the bombing was just made me frustrated to the point of anger that this could happen in the "home of democracy".
After we left we went to diner with Catherine Burks-Brooks, Barbra Mines, Cleopatra Goree and Mr.Rivers(who i helped to his car and to his positioning for the picture). The stories they shared showed me not just the point of view of the historians telling the facts. It showed me how intense these events were for the people who went through them and even going back to meeting John Lewis and getting a chance to meet Mr. Lewis at North Carolina A&T, i feel these encounters give me the information that textbooks or teachers or documentaries could ever give me.
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