The Justice Journey Pilgrimage

 Day Two

Four Little Girls

Today was a very full day touring through Birmingham, with an amazing tour guide, Donna, who lived in the city during the civil rights movement.  In fact, a number of people at the historic sites, who are now serving as guides, were living history in that they, too, were here in Birmingham.  They know people who attended Bethel Baptist Church, 16th Street Baptist Church, the schools where students walked out to attend the Children's March.  Reverend Wilder, current pastor of Bethel Baptist, met the Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, a courageous leader in the movement, a few times.  This was a first for me, visiting historic sites and being toured through them by those who made or witnessed the history.  It was an amazing experience.

Repeatedly, tour guides emphasized that the death of the four little girls at 16th Street Baptist Church served as the catalyst for the civil rights movement.  No one expected, they emphasized, no one could imagine that anyone would hurt people while they were attending church, much less children.  Can you believe it?  they asked.  Can you believe that happened?

I can.  I can believe that happened.  I also can believe it's happening still.  I am so incredibly sad it is happening still.






                        
                                                This is a replacement window, as the original was damaged in the bombing.  The face of Christ was completely obliterated; a large crack was in the area of the heart.  People said it was because Jesus couldn't stand to see what was going on in Birmingham.  It broke his heart.


 
                             This window was donated in honor of Booker T. Washington.                                
                                                            
            This window was donated by the people of Wales and  was at first refused by the church, given that Jesus is  depicted as Black.  Church members were fearful that  the KuKluxKlan would bomb the church again.  It is                     known as the Wales Window.


Earlier in the day, we rode through Birmingham's historically Black neighborhoods.  Birmingham was a steel manufacturing town.  Blacks and immigrants were recruited to work in the steel mills and were, as history often repeats itself, treated poorly and shamefully.


Bethel Baptist Church, where Fred Shuttlesworth was pastor, is identified as where the civil rights movement began.  As soldiers returned home from World War II, Black soldiers questioned why they, and other Blacks, had all of the burdens but none of the benefits of American life.  Where was fairness?  Where was equality?  What about justice?  I love this definition of justice one of our pilgrims, Austin, offered: Justice is getting rid of the problem for everyone and not making it easier for one over the other.  Instead of accepting, "Wait," Blacks in Birmingham said, "Now."

I jotted this quote down, don't remember who it was attributed to, but I think it is as applicable today as it was in the sixties:

Sometimes when things are so bad, you need a big response.

                                                         

                                 

                                                    

                                            Pilgrims and Shepherds outside Bethel Baptist Church


Kelly Ingram park is home to about a dozen sculptures depicting scenes from the civil rights movement.

                                                                    
At the entrance to the park
                                                                     
                                               Four unfinished columns in honor of the 4 Little Girls   

                                                                    
                      When people gathered to protest on a Sunday, the police told them to disperse as they                           didn't have a parade permit.  The ministers immediately knelt down to pray, changing
                       the protest to a church service.



                
                                        

We also visited the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, a thought provoking collection of exhibits depicting the incidents during the fight for equality, fairness and justice.  In the sixties, my mother-in-law, the inimitable Margaret Louise Lemmon O'Brien, taught in an all Black school in Kankakee, Illinois.  My husband is fond of telling about the year he was helping her set up her classroom for a new school year.  Maggie was so excited the class was receiving new textbooks!  But when Dan opened the book covers, he found signatures of students from the white schools in town.  This exhibit reminded me of that.  


I also recalled seeing this photo in Life Magazine back in the sixties.  I remember staring at the angry young white woman behind the Black woman, wondering what she was yelling and why she was being so hateful.


The day ended with a quick stop at Eddie Kenrick Commemorative Park.  Eddie Kenrick was one of the original Temptations. My Friend Jeanie™ and I needed to get our photo taken with him.




More to come tomorrow.  I'm tired and my soul is sore.




















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