The first capital city of the Confederacy and an important link
in the renowned Cotton Belt, Montgomery is today more
widely known for its role as the unwilling host to the historic
Civil Rights marches, inspired by a local seamstress, Rosa
Parks, who was too tired to give up her bus seat on her way
home from work one day in December 1955. Her calm
defiance attracted the admiration of the city's popular
preacher, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who emerged on the
local and national stage when he organized the famed
Montgomery Bus Boycott, which ignited the national Civil
Rights movement. Centrally located on the south bank of the
Alabama River, this capital city is emblematic of the historic
clashes from its role in the 1860's War Between the States
and its involuntary part in the Civil Rights movement 100
years later. Within one city block remnants of these
historical events compete in their respective historic
structures, memorials, monuments and
museum exhibits.
Things to See in Montgomery:
o State Capitol
This 1850 Greek Revival Capitol is famous for two events:
First, in February 1861 on the front portico, the new Southern
Confederacy inaugurated Jefferson Davis as the President
of the Confederate States. The second event taking place on
the same spot 104 years later, March 1965, Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr. ended his Selma-to-Montgomery Civil
Rights march. Beyond this historic portico the doors open to
a grand foyer flanked by a pair of white spiral staircases
curling up three stories. The Capitol's pink and gold
neoclassical Rotunda features a glorious stained glass
skylight. Eight large murals designed in the late 1920s by
Alabama artist Roderick MacKenzie decorate the walls. The
murals show scenes from Alabama's history, such as the
arrival of deSoto, the French settlement, early pioneers,
antebellum life, the Confederacy and commercial
development.
Check it out . . . The original "Governor's Suite" and the
"Secretary of State Suite," on the first floor preserve
furnishings and documents from the period of
1870s-1880s, presenting a tactile peek into the past.
Check it out . . . On the Capitol grounds, 50 flagpoles wave a
flag from each state on a semicircular walkway called the
"Walk of States." Beneath each flag lies a stone
nameplate--donated by each state from material
indigenous to its terrain. A few of the stones are
semiprecious, such as turquoise from New Mexico.
o State Archives and History Museum
Founded in 1901 the Alabama Department of Archives and
History was the first state archival agency in the nation. The
museum, housed in a beautiful turn-of-the-century building
with marble walls and staircases of Tennessee gray and
Alabama white marble, displays changing exhibits relating
to Alabama history, including interpretive hands-on
galleries. Of particular note is the 19th century gallery on the
second floor featuring unusual items, such as human hair
jewelry made by Mrs. Jefferson Davis, antebellum quilts,
and the Alabama State Bible. A room dedicated to former
Vice President William Rufus King is also on the second
floor. King, a North Carolina native, was born April 7, 1786
and at the age of 29 served as a North Carolina
representative in the US Congress. He resigned in
November 1816 to accept a post in Russia. When he
returned, he became ill and moved to Cuba to recuperate. In
1819 he moved to Alabama and when Alabama became a
state in December of that year, he was elected to represent
the new state in the US Senate, and reelected more three
times before being appointed Minister to France in 1844. He
was elected again to the US Senate in 1848 but resigned in
1853 to serve as Vice President under Franklin Pierce. He
took the oath of office on March 4, 1853 but died soon after,
on April 18, 1853. The room dedicated to William Rufus
King displays some of his personal clothing, furniture,
china, and silver, and other items he collected from his
foreign posts. It also displays documents that reveal
fascinating things about this relatively unknown political
figure and the times in which he lived.
o First White House of the Confederacy
A simple, unassuming dwelling, the First White House of
the Confederacy was the makeshift executive mansion
donated by a local merchant and hurriedly established to
serve as temporary living quarters for the newly elected
President Jefferson Davis and his family who lived there
three months before the Confederate capital moved to
Richmond. Conveniently located across the street from the
State Capitol, the White House of the Confederacy allows
self-guided tours. All the rooms on the first and second floor
are open to visitors. Period furnishings, personal items
belonging the Davis family, photographs and documents
present a keen insight into the early days of the Civil War,
the South's prominent leader and his personal struggles.
o Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Began his ministry at the Dexter
Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church, which served as
headquarters for the 1956 bus boycott. A large mural in the
church basement depicts the influential people and
landmark events of Civil Rights movement from the 1950s
to 1970s. A short film supplements the mural.
o Civil Rights Memorial
Just outside the Southern Poverty Law Office, kitty-corner to
the State Capitol and a block from the Dexter Avenue King
Memorial Baptist Church, is the impressive The Civil Rights
Memorial, designed by sculptor, Maya Y. Lin, who also
designed the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, D.C.,
and dedicated on November 5, 1989. Etched on a round
altar of smooth black granite is a chronology of the Civil
Rights events and the names of 80 martyrs who died in the
struggle for racial equality. Water bubbling from the altar's
center flows over the timepiece past the words of Martin
Luther King (paraphrasing the Bible), "Until justice rolls
down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream." A
beautiful and emotional memorial.
o Jasmine Hill Gardens and Outdoor Museum
The Olympian Center, featuring a replica of the Greek
Temple of Hera, is the centerpiece of this 20-acre flower
garden ablaze in colors all year long.
o Alabama Shakespeare Festival
Located in the expansive green gardens of Wynton M. Blount
Cultural Park, the nationally-acclaimed Alabama
Shakespeare Festival is the fifth largest in the world.
Presenting both classic and contemporary productions, it
also offers year-round educational programs. The Alabama
Museum of Fine Arts is also on the grounds. With its acres
of ponds, gardens, museums and theaters, the Wynton M.
Blount Cultural Park is the place to go for art and nature.
o Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald Museum
Housed in the modest home where the Fitzgeralds lived in
the early 1930s while Scott wrote "Tender is the Night," the
museum features personal belongings, furniture,
photographs, and manuscripts of writer F. Scott Fitzgerald
and the rare diaries and unpublished paintings done by his
talented, Montgomery-born wife Zelda. Each room contains
memorabilia that speak volumes of their unusual
personalities and strange life together. On the screened-in
side porch of this old rambling house, the museum plays a
film of their sad story, told through interviews of surviving
relatives and friends.
ALABAMA TOURIST INFORMATION: (800) 252-2262
Priscilla Faith Rhodes is the author of DISCOVER AMERICA DIARIES: 50 STATES, 50 STATES OF MIND, and co-publisher of the award-winning website, Postcards from America, http://www.postcardsfrom.com, a edu-travel site that helps students and families learn about America through postcards.
0 comments:
Post a Comment