I took a trip...that changed my life

     Any trip you take for the first time is exciting. Memories are made that will probably last a lifetime. Most of my trips over the years have been what I call scenic trips. You go to see the sites of a new location. See what the place has to offer. I have been to the coast of Florida, Texas and Mississippi and there isn't anything quite like sticking your toes in the wet sand and letting the waves wash over your feet.

     I have been hiking in the mountains of Utah and New Mexico and I think I could be very happy living among the pine trees or staring at a mountain range for my view.

     I love exploring new places and seeing what new cities have to offer. But, on a recent trip I was completely overwhelmed with emotion.

     We were traveling through Tennessee. It was an impromptu trip so we didn't have anything planned. We visited Nashville stopping at the Ryman Auditorium

just to say we had been there before taking in a hockey game. Nashville is so different than I pictured it.















It was fascinating but it was our next stop that brought me to my knees.

     When I checked the internet for things to do in Memphis, one item stood at the top of the page. The Civil Rights Museum. I was very interested in going although if I am going to be perfectly honest, I was a little nervous. I couldn't explain why. When we got there, it surprised me that the museum was the actual motel that Martin Luther King Jr. was killed at.

The motel sits just as it did the day he died. The room where he stayed is still exactly like it was the day he died. 

     The rest of the motel, though the same on the outside has been remodeled to show the history of the Civil Rights Era. One room shows a timeline of events that happened throughout history. Another shows a video taking you from slavery to the Civil Rights era. As I walked through, I realized just how much I didn't know. I don't know if my school just didn't teach much on it or I just didn't listen, but on this day, my heart was taking a massive hit. 

There was a room depicting the story of Rosa Parks. The voice of the bus driver berating her as she refused to leave the bus.

   Another room told the story of the Sit-In, where four African American college students walked into white only restaurant and asked for coffee. When service was refused, they sat peacefully waiting to be served and the sit-in was born. 

   














I walked from room to room, my heart beating furiously in my chest, wondering how I had missed so many of these stories. I knew a few, not well, by any stretch of the imagination, but so many of the stories I read, were so heart wrenching and I had never even heard of them.

     The one story that truly brought tears to my eyes was the Freedom Rides.  In 1961 The Congress of Racial Equality sought to test the Supreme Court decision of Boynton vs. Virginia which stated that segregation of Interstate Transportation facilities including bus terminals was unconstitutional. The original thirteen Freedom Riders were seven African Americans and six white. They started in Washington D.C. and planned to travel to New Orleans, Louisiana. They traveled through Virginia and North Carolina without incident. When they reached South Carolina three of the Freedom Riders, were attacked when they attempted to enter a white only waiting room.

     When the bus reached Atlanta Georgia, the thirteen split into two groups. One group rode Greyhound the other Trailways. On May 14, 1961 the first bus to reach Anniston, Alabama was the Greyhound bus. An angry mob of over two hundred was gathered outside of the bus terminal causing the bus drive to drive past. The mob followed the bus and blew out the tires. When the bus stopped a bomb was thrown on board. All the passengers got off safely but were then beaten by the mob.

      The second bus pulled up in Birmingham, Alabama to another angry mob and the riders were beaten with pipes. As the rides continued through Alabama the mobs grew and more riders were beaten until 600 Federal Marshalls were called in when a riot broke out after Martin Luther King held a church service in Montgomery in hopes of quelling the violence.

     In Jackson Mississippi there was no violence but when they tried to use any white only facility they were thrown into prison. The court case went all the way to the supreme court before being overturned.

     Finally, in the fall of 1961, the Interstate Commerce Commission issued regulations prohibiting segregation in Interstate Transit Terminals.

     I have to admit, this whole story was new to me when I went to the museum. I walked away with such a pain inside me, I could barely speak. I didn't know.
   
    I got to thinking, maybe there are others who are in the same boat I am. People with fairer skin who love all colors of people but don't know the history of our friends of a different race and what exactly they have dealt with.

     Well, this might give you an idea. But, if you get a chance to travel to Memphis, make it a point to stop at the Civil Rights Museum. It will change your life.