We toured the home where King and his family lived during his pastorage of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church from 1954 – 1960. We were fortunate to have a presentation by members of the church who knew King when he was there and who had worked with him during his time at the church. The King’s 2 oldest children were born at this home. It was located in a prominent black section of town. It is well preserved.

The Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church in Montgomery was our next historic visit. It was erected on land that had been used as a Slave Trader’s Pen and is about a block from the State Capitol and in close proximity of other state department buildings. It is amazing that the white establishment allowed it to be built and to remain in existence so close to the place where they meted out such segregated policies and abuse.

We left Montgomery and drove to Selma following the road that King and thousands of others traveled on those fateful days in 1955 during the “March from Selma to Montgomery”.

We arrived in Selma, AL in the afternoon. The day was a sunny one, and our experiences mirrored the day in that we were aglow and overawed by the volume of material and artifacts that had been collected to help everyone not forget what our people went through during the voting and civil rights struggles.

Mr. Sam Walker’s presentation about the National Voting Rights Museum and the artifacts were astounding. Numerous items of memorabilia are displayed in every room. Prominently placed in view for all to see is “The I Was There Wall” where anyone who participated in the March to Selma in any way can list their name and involvement on the wall – black and white alike.

To walk across the Edmund Pettus Bridge, though it be 43 years later, was very moving. To think that 2 days before, we spent an hour with one of the leaders of that first march, now Congressman John Lewis, of Georgia, a Sunday that was to become known all over the world as “Bloody Sunday” because of the unprovoked beatings and bites and tear gas, etc., that was used against the marchers. It was 2 weeks later, after an injunction was obtained, that allowed the march to come to fruition, under the protection of nationalized troops.

Many of the preparatory meetings for the march took place at Brown Chapel, a magnificent edifice, which we were privileged to not only tour, but to hear from the pastor, Rev. Jackson, who was a young man during the time of the marches and living in Selma.

We ended the day with a visit to the Slavery and Civil War Museum. This was a place that vividly portrayed many of the atrocities that slaves as well as “free” black men and women suffered over a span of many years. It varied from the use of profanity in name calling to beatings to burnings to lynchings; it included separation of families and numerous other indecent and inappropriate acts. The realities of this place and its portrayals were depressing but left one with a new appreciation for the inner strengths that the slaves and black men and women must have had to endure and to overcome such mistreatment.

Our hotel for the night was a quaint place that had been modernized but had many preserved features. It was interesting to know and to experience the fact that just 43 years ago, we could not have stayed there.