The Rosa Parks Museum

Just inside the door at the museum entrance

If you are ever in Montgomery, Alabama, this is a DO NOT MISS! Along with the rest of the Montgomery's history making icons all over town, (see yesterday's blog), the Troy University Rosa Parks Museum is a wonderful place to learn lots more that you didn't learn when you were in school. Six distinct sections of the museum tell the story and bravery of the early civil rights activists...

There is a marvelous, interactive part that you can do and we did--The Cleveland Avenue Time Machine.... You get "on the bus", a reproduction of the Cleveland Bus of Montgomery, AL, and Mr. Rivets, the robotic bus driver, leads you into a 360 degree surround sound video tour of the events of history leading up to 1955. It's an interactive bus ride through the early history of the south, slavery, Dred Scott and segregation, from the 1800's to the events leading up to Rosa Park's momentous decision not to give her seat up on the bus that day in 1955. No pictures, please! The videos and photos are copyrighted. (Sparky, put your camera away!) The bus "moves", bounces a little, as if you were really riding and you travel back in time to see history unfold in front of you. Sound and video presentation is excellent! Hop off the "bus", and venture to a couple other parts of the museum for more history.

Here's the upstairs second floor viewing room:

A bank of about ten computers on a tabletop research station allow you to access more information--such as oral histories of people who remember the bus boycotts of Montgomery, the effects of segregation on Montgomery's residents, and other archived information.

On to another part of the museum....view Rosa Park's "bus" line set up so you can see a film made to look like you are watching the events unfold right on Rosa Park's bus through the windows when she gets arrested. Then the tour moves into a more traditional museum setting where more short videos are played, artifacts from that time period are displayed and a beautiful Chevy is on view that was used to transport the boycotters during the strike. Did you know that 350 of the cars were purchased and licensed through the local churches to transport the boycotters? The city had tried to block the alternative transportation for the black residents by saying they had to have a business license and pay taxes. The organizers of the boycott got around this block by having the churches purchase the vehicles.  There were lots  more interesting facts behind the boycott...fascinating! Money flowed in from all over the world and the U.S. to support the boycott. Because no one would insure the cars in the United States, a wealthy Alabama businessman had to go to Lloyd's of London to get the cars insured.  The black residents of Montgomery really pulled together to form a highly organized alternative transportation system that worked well for them for the 13 months the boycott was in effect! We learned a lot from our tour guide today, a young man, who did an excellent job of sharing Montgomery's important history. (Sparky forgot to get his name!)

It was a really interesting tour for us today....Every American should be completely familiar with this dark, sorrowful, shameful part of our history. I felt quite a bit of ignorance at not knowing so many details of this historical event. I'm glad I went to see the museum today to learn a lot more. It was well worth 12.00 for each of us, with a 1.00 discount for AAA....We both were glad we came!

Downtown Montgomery, Alabama

We headed to downtown Montgomery, today, to try and find the visitor's center. We did, and it's beautiful! It's in an old railway station depot and train shed called Union Station. This is a BIG station, and it's gorgeous! Stained glass windows, Romanesque rounded windows, a copper marquee, terra cotta details, it's an architectural beauty. This station was a main railhead during the Civil War, transporting soldiers and supplies to the battlefields. At the rear of the train station, is the national historic landmark train shed, one of the very few left standing of its kind. It's constructed of iron and timbers, and it has trusses which are similar to the late 19th century architecture that produced the Brooklyn Bridge and Eiffel Tower. Standing under the beams of the shed, you could just feel the history behind it.

While at the Union Station, we saw a trolley sitting outside and found out that for 3.00 a person, we could tour downtown, hopping on and off at historical stops. The trolley was about to start off on a tour, hold the trolley! Sparky and Eldo boarded, along with two other passengers, and off we went! It was great! The trolley driver gives historical information, and it's supplemented with a TV video about Montgomery as you are riding along. The tour is about 45 minutes total, but we decided to hop off at the state capitol building. Absolutely gorgeous and interesting! Much southern history is here in this very building....

Jefferson Davis stood on the front porch steps of the capitol and gave his inaugural speech as president of the Confederacy....

In this room, Davis gave his secession from the Union speech.....

The rotunda has a series of vignettes of Alabama's history painted all around the domed ceiling....They were amazing! The architectural details of classic buildings like these are awe inspiring....

The door that marks the entrance to the capitol building....Enter into history, Eldo!

Here is the Baptist Church where Martin Luther King preached from 1954 to 1960.....The Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church...This is where the Montgomery Bus Boycott was organized.

The "White House" of the Confederacy.....

There is a Rosa Parks Museum and a Civil Rights Memorial, all within a few blocks of the capitol building....You are taken through a part of town called "Old Alabama"which are storefronts, homes, a school and other buildings that give you an idea of what life was like in 19th century Montgomery.....We didn't stop to tour these things, we wanted to get an overall idea of what the historical stops were along the way before hopping off to see each one. Sparky wants to see the Rosa Parks Museum, it's interactive! We'll probably do that tomorrow....

What was surprising to us was there was very little sign of any activity going on downtown around the capitol building area....probably because the legislative body wasn't in session. But we didn't see hardly anybody walking around, heading to or from their offices! It was a very quiet place for a Monday.....We thoroughly enjoyed our tour and plan to go back today to see a little more.....See you at the Rosa Parks Museum!

P.S. We're still waging war on the ants---the ants have called in reinforcements! Thanks to everybody for their great advice, what an interesting array of options to try! Sparky is all in favor of non-toxic remedies, but is NOT going to live in peaceful co-existence with the little buggers!  See you tomorrow......