Day 2: Atlanta and Birmingham

The trip thus far has been amazing, fun, sad, educational, and exhausting. I am learning so much it is hard to even begin to share the information we have covered over this short period of time. Today, we attended the Ebenezer Baptist Church service and it was a moving experience to say the least. The members of the church were so welcoming and went completely out of their way to come shake our hands a wish us a good morning. The music rang throughout the building radiating compassion and soul, and is something that I will never forget. We also visited the Martin Luther King Jr. historical sites that surrounded the Ebenezer Baptist Church which included the house MLK was born in, his tomb, and museums that covered all of his accomplishments that were made in between. It was during this portion of the trip where I realized that it is normal, everyday people who bring about change in this world. People who lead normal lives just like we all do, the only difference is that they decided to make a stand for something that they believe in. That is something that I think we are all capable of doing.
We left for Birmingham, Alabama after we left the MLK historical sites and made our first stop at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute. This was a wonderful museum that used many creative methods of conveying the information of the Civil Rights Movement which made the museum very interesting and kept my attention throughout the length of the multiple displays. This museum was wonderful, however, I found it to be a bit overwhelming at times because there was so much information to soak in. Surrounding the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute are the 16th Street Baptist Church, where 4 little girls were killed by a bomb, and Kelly Ingram Park where protestors were attacked by the police. Both were very emotional and moving sites for me to witness and I had a hard time imagining how much courage one would need to actually face these events. Overall, today was a very big day for me and I am excited to have another one tomorrow, but now I must get some sleep. So much to learn, so little time. Goodnight :)