Sunday, January 10, 2010
















We started our day at Ebenezer Baptist Church- the church that Martin Luther King, Jr. attended as a child. We were able to meet the pastor after the service. He was an amazing speaker and inspired us with his message. The choir was phenomenal and we were blown away by their musical performance. After the church service we visited the King Center where we were able to learn more about Dr. King. We saw the wagon used to carry his casket during the funeral march. We saw a photo exhibit featuring Dr. King and President John Kennedy and Robert Kennedy. Then we toured Dr. King's birth home. Everyone really enjoyed this stop on the trip. Next we visited Freedom Hall and saw King's Nobel Prize, Presidential Medal of Freedom and Grammy Award. We ended the tour of the King sites with a stop at the tombs of Dr. King and Coretta Scott King.






After Atlanta, we drove to Birmingham where we toured the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute. We enjoyed being able to see all of the interactive exhibits and learned so much about the history of the city and the movement. Following the Institute, we went to Sixteenth Street Baptist Church where the four young women about the ages of my daughters were killed in 1963. It was powerful to think of the loss and sadness felt by the families of all the people who lost their lives in the fight for civil rights. It is so good that we can be here to learn from the past so that we can work for justice in the future. We ended our day in Kelly Ingram Park. This beautiful park had statues depicting the torture aimed at the children who marched for integration in Birmingham.





Then enjoyed a great dinner in small groups. It was fun to get to know some new people. My group had a wonderful conversation about what we saw and learned about today. And, the food was terrific. WHAT A GREAT DAY!!

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