Day Three
Day Three of the tour left me in awe yet again. This morning we went to the Charles Sherrod Civil Rights Park in Albany, GA.
We then had a tour of the Albany Civil Rights Institute. Here we viewed amazing photos and we experienced what a jail cell would have been like for civil rights activists in the 1960’s. I am continually struck by the non-violence that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. advocated for. We also had the gift of hearing from Ms. Rutha Harris, a Freedom Singer and Civil Rights Activist. In the 1960’s Rutha led the singing before Dr. Martin Luther King Junior would speak.
Ms. Rutha Harris, Freedom Singer and Civil Rights Activist
Today, she not only sang for us, she also taught us some freedom songs. She spoke about how during the marches, the songs gave the protesters courage. Rutha performs all over the country and the world. She recently performed at the White House.
After Albany, we traveled to Montgomery, Alabama where we visited the Civil Rights Park and Memorial Center and the Southern Poverty Law Center. Here we heard stories of those who lost their lives during the Civil Rights Movement. There were so many heart-wrenching stories. I was especially struck by the story of Mrs. Viola Gregg Liuzzo, a white woman, who was watching the 11 o’clock news in Detroit when she saw coverage of State Troopers attacking Selma, AL marchers at the Edmund Pettis Bridge. She was so overcome that she left her children and husband at home and drove to AL shuttling marchers back and forth between Montgomery and Selma. She was murdered by the KKK as she was driving one evening.
We also saw the Civil Rights Memorial where names of the martyrs are listed on a circular memorial as water gently flows over them. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s quote behind the memorial paraphrases Amos 5:24 “We will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Southern Poverty Law Center
Civil Rights Memorial - Messiah colleagues and alums