The following day, 5th, we embarked on our civil
rights tour. The first stop was the civil rights institute in the central city,
but we’d arrived early so parked the car on the street ($1 per hour, cheap as!)
and went for a look around. On one side of the museum, across the street, is
the famous 16th St Baptist church. Opposite the museums front is a large park,
and as it seemed to have a number of intriguing statutes we went across to have
a look.
There was a lot of activity going on, and it turned out to
be a large gathering of the homeless as they congregated at the park to receive
donations of food and clothing. We ended up talking to a few of them as they
passed us and gave us a bit of local history and some stories about the civil
rights era some had been through.
The statues we’d seen were part of a walking tour and
commemorated the actions of the protesters during the 50’s and 60’, for example
there was one of a young boy being attacked by a police dog and police officer
that was based on a famous photo. The sculptures were very well done and quite
thought provoking, so with these in mind we went into the institute for our
tour. After paying the entry fee we were directed to a small theatre where a
short film played that outlined the history of the city and the role that
slavery & segregation played in its development.
The exhibition was very well laid out and explained the
origins of the movement in the 50’s and talked about the famous event that
occurred, like the freedom rider bus rides (where segregation was challenged in
bus waiting rooms), sit-in protests, and the Montgomery bus boycott. There was
a combination of displays and films, and one was the Martin Luther King “I have
a dream” speech, a powerful and still relevant speech today.
In some ways it would have been better to have seen
something like this first as it provided a really good overall summary of the
civil rights movement and so going to see the other sites, we’d have had a bit
of background understanding. Notwithstanding, it did feel like an appropriate
end to the things we’d seen and people we’d talked to, and we left in quite a
sombre mood.
Needing a bit of lunch, we searched via google maps and
found a place called “Green Acres” a few blocks down, so left our car where it
was and walked down. The area is predominantly black-owned business and
we were the only white faces around. The Green Acres café was a small place
that was still quite packed out, so obviously popular. It offered pretty
standard fare so we got our food (including fried green tomatoes for Deb) and
looked for a place to eat, but ended up going back to the park opposite the
Institute and sat on a low wall and ate and watched the crowds ebbing &
flowing in the park. Perhaps to be expected but we were soon acquired by a
young homeless guy who came up and started chatting, and while Deb beat a
strategic exit, I was not so quick so ended up chatting for several minutes and
then, after making a small donation, was able to extricate myself. We noticed
later that he’d latched onto another person waiting at the pedestrian crossing.
It must be a tough life, but despite all the homeless people around we didn’t
feel threated or concerned. According to one of the people we spoke to earlier,
there was a drive by the city to make the park part of the national parks
service which this chap objected to, as he wanted to keep it a city park. I
suspect if it becomes part of the NPS, these folks will be moved on and have to
find another place to gather.
Needing a bit of cheering up after the sombre displays, we
decided to head to the Birmingham Zoo and see a few of the animals. It was
another hot and sunny day so seemed like a good idea. The main star attraction
for us was the Flamingo’s (I’d never seen any real ones), and after a bit of a
hike through the pathways we found them. The almost look like caricatures of
real birds, and what I found remarkable is that they can twist their necks back
into their bodies to sleep and then stand on one spindly leg, that barely looks
enough to support their weight. The other thing that one doesn’t get from
seeing photos of these critters is the smell of the birds, quite strong and not
helped by the heat!
We wandered around and took in a few more of the animals,
and got talking to a couple after they asked us to take a family picture. They
said that the autumn was unusually warm, and that Alabama was in the grip of a
three month drought. There were a number of restrictions in place (even to the
number of times a loo can be flushed) but it was something we’d had no idea of,
and none of the hotels we stayed in even alluded to this.
After a few hours we went back to our Hotel and decided to
head out to a place called “Saws Soul Kitchen” that we’d seen on Tripadvisor.
This ended up being an arbitrary lesson in ensuring that addresses entered into
the GPS are accurate and reflect the true street name. The address of this
place was “41st St S”, i.e 41st St South. The Navman defaults to an
address when a certain number of characters are entered, and it defaulted to
“41st St”. Well we figured there’d be a south and north end, so duly
set off.
Well, after negotiating the terror that was Birmingham’s
freeway system at night (cars pass us like we are standing still and change
lanes all over the place) we ended up in the middle of nowhere, amidst dark
streets and abandoned buildings. We pulled over and tried entering the
co-ordinates again, and this time made sure the address was “41st St
South” – sure enough we were back on the freeway of terror and this time
heading into the city where we’d expected to be before.
The kitchen is in a rather decrepit area, but there were
quite a few new-ish looking eateries around and it seemed to be an area that
was becoming a popular place to be. The kitchen was quite small with just a few
tables jammed inside and the menu shambolically written up on a huge
blackboard. Nonetheless it was really busy (always a good sign) and after a
small wait it was our turn to order. I asked for a side of fries with mine and
instead the guy behind the counter suggested I try fried Okra instead, so figured
why not. Deb got Fried Green Tomatoes again.
There were some picnic tables set up outside along the
restaurants wall so we sat outside to eat. The guy that served us came out and
chatted for a while (another example of how friendly and open people have been)
and made a few suggestions for our next stop in Nashville. The food naturally
was delicious and was well worth the effort to go to. The fried Okra was really
nice, though most of the taste is in the coating as I think Okra itself is
quite bland.
So that was a nice way to end our time in Birmingham, a
nicer and prettier city than we’d expected it to be.
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