Seeing both of Dr. King`s houses in Atlanta, GA and Montgomery, AL was a good experience. It was great just to see how Dr. King and his family lived. Also, it was good seeing some of the exact items and replica of items that Dr. King and family had. Actually being there in his parsonage house, was an experience no history or textbook could have replaced.  

 Martin Luther King Jr. Notes- Tuesday 
These are notes from the Montgomery location experience. We saw inside Dr. King` s parsonage house. On Tuesday, we went to the Dexter Parsonage Museum. After this, we saw information on the Montgomery Bus Boycott. And then we saw the Dexter Church. We saw where Martin Luther King Jr. lived in Montgomery, Al. We then saw the Dexter parsonage film and saw the film “if walls could talk”. It was really special to see pictures that were only in this Museum, and only one of the pictures was published. We learned that the Bus Boycott lasted for over a yr. (which is long to have a boycott) Dexter Baptist Church really started to flourish w/ Vernon John. We also learned about other brown folk in the area and learned that Dr. Harns had the only pharmacy in town. These were just things that we learned by talking to our tour guide, that we most likely would not have learned reading a book. Some of these things were not written but kept in the community and spread by word of mouth.

Now I am at Selma, at the St. James` hotel. Selma was definitely a great, surprising, and historical experience. First when the group and I arrived at Selma, we went to this Museum around the corner from the historic “Bloody Sunday” bridge, we also walked across the bridge and went to the Museum to get a tour. We also saw pictures and many other historical displays related to the collective movement in Selma. Again, I have seen videos and read about what took place at the “Edmund Pettus Bridge” but actually walking across the bridge and being there was something else. Before walking across the bridge we also visited Selma`s museum right around the corner and at the bottom of the bridge.  This museum had many pictures and other historical displays related to the collective movement in Selma.
As I reflect, on the reenactment of the Slavery Museum in Selma, AL- I still need time for the experience to process. A lot took place, and there were a lot of emotions that came about through out and from the experience. One thing I will say is that I did feel bad whenever I heard the tour guides say the N word. Even knowing it was a reenactment and knowing they were acting everything out I still felt very uncomfortable and slightly angry when the word was expressed.  

Notes from Birmingham – In Birmingham, we watched a movie in the ”?”theater on Jazz music in Birmingham. This was an enjoyable place for me because I listen to various types of music, and jazz is one of them. Birmingham was called the magic city or Music City. School teachers, preachers, and folks who did manual labor in the town all wanted to one day become musicians.
We also learned how black musicians were disciplined by instructions and how black musicians had to organize their own bands + organization. Frank “Doc” Adams was our tour guide and he is a great musician from Birmingham. John T. Fess Waltey- taught about everybody music. Learned about Erskie Hawkins.  We learned about the term “head arrangement”, which meant to sing or play something without writing things down. Other famous and influential musicians mentioned were Hayword Henry, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, and Sun Ra. 

As I look at the trip as a whole- I feel very thankful for just being apart of the trip. The trip was definitely a once in a life time experience for me, as I predicted it would be. I really liked how there was so much effort put in by the individual’s in the south to keep important history alive. A lot of the things learned from the trip were significant because these were things that I did not know before. Or in other words, these were things I had not learned from a history book. Actually being there, and going to these historical locations really helped me to gain more. 

Also, it was definitely a great experience meeting Fred Gray and Congressman Lewis and hearing them talk about their experiences. Fred Gray was the lawyer that got MLK Jr. and Rosa Parks out of jail, and Congressman Lewis was a student alongside Dr. King. Both played very important roles in Civil Rights movements and are still doing work now. 

I also found it satisfying to see how well put together things had to be for various civil rights movements to be successful. Also, (similar to Obama`s election) I found that a lot of people had to do things collectively to get the overall goal and job done. 

From viewing a lot of pictures, I found that you can learn a lot from just looking at a picture. From these pictures, you can determine facial expressions, the atmosphere, and how everyone is reacting. You can also determine whether everyone is reacting the same or whether one person or amongst a group of people have different facial expressions. From this trip and the many museums, I learned why people say “a picture has a thousand words”.  
 

Also, in Montgomery, we went to the Rosa Parks Museum which was also a great experience being able to see pictures displays and the actual documents of legal documents from Dr. King and Rosa Parks’ situations. There was also a reenactment section of the tour of Rosa Park’s bus ride experience. I also gained a lot from this museum`s tour.

It also was a great experience being in Alabama because this is where my relatives on my father`s side of the family is from (various areas in Alabama). So it was good being in AL for my first time, and actually meeting people who reminded me of family.

We ended our trip in Memphis, TN at the Loraine Hotel Museum. This is where Dr. King was shot and killed. I know the group learned a lot being there. It was not a happy museum but overall I definitely appreciated seeing the Museum, and being able to tell people about the experience and to say “I was there”.

For whatever reason they have, from this trip, I found that there are still many people making great efforts to keep history alive, and I am glad to see this movement by people in our society. The Martin Luther King Jr. tour was a great one for real. It has been tiresome, after driving about 15 hours driving the van for the trip, but as I am back here at WVU- I will say that I miss being around more people that look like me, traveling, learning more about history, and eating that good ol` “soul food.” 

“Odessa`s Blessing definitely was a Blessing”