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Civil Rights Tour 2012 – Day 3
June 12th, 2012
Civil Rights Tour Blog 2012 for Day 3:
Our first stop for today was the Civil Rights Museum of Albany, Georgia. This museum has examples of more degradation and humiliation such as actual doors, water fountains, and jute boxes that are designated for “whites” and “blacks”. It has a stunning array of examples including part of the burned bus from the “Freedom Rides”.
The highlight for today was our meeting with Rutha Harris, who is an original “Freedom Singer”. We were blessed to have Rutha visit the Messiah Campus in January of this year to celebrate MLK Day. She is living history from the Civil Rights Era. We sang freedom songs, marched around the church with placards, joined hands (right over left!) and sang “We shall Overcome”. She is just astonishing! She is 71 years old, looks great, has amazing energy, and loves to give. You get the feeling that she imparts some of her energy to you to keep the fight going no matter what the cause. Her opening song was “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around” from freedom. She was crying at the end of it. When she belts out a song you can feel it vibrate in the rafters. Her enduring message is one of hope and keep fighting. She said “do not feel sorry for me”. She is a Hero not a victim!!
The next exciting stop for us was the Tuskeegee Air Museum. This was the training headquarters for the “Red Tail” division of the US Airf Force consisting of all black men. They had an astonishing record during World War II shooting down German bombers and supporting our American Bomber planes. They flew over North Africa, Italy, and Europe. What an amazing group of people including two women pilots!! Eleanor Roosevelt told one of the women pilots that she always wanted to fly .