Civil Rights Museums

 Civil Rights Museums

USA

as of 1-20-2022

Certain moments in history really intrigue me: JFK's murder, the Viet Nam War and the Civil Rights Movement.  Maybe they are all related.  But I am drawn to movies, writings, museums and discussions about these topics.  My interest in endless and I don't know why.

I was 12 when Martin Luther King was murdered.  I didn't really understand what was going on and I didn't see him as a man of honor.  I saw the media's portrayal of a man who was inciting black people to rise up and riot.  I thought he was dangerous.

Today, I am sorry he didn't live longer.  I think our world could probably have been a kinder, gentler world if he had been given the opportunity to succeed.

Here's where I've visited so far:

• Civil Rights Museum- Atlanta, GA
• Central High School- Little Rock, AR
• Civil Rights Museum- Jackson, Mississippi
• Brown v The Board of Education- Topeka, KS
• Harriet Tubman Trail- MD
• Delaware Museum- Wilmington, DE
• African American Museum- Washington, DC

Civil Rights Museum- Memphis, TN
I loved this museum.  I had just spent the morning at Elvis Presley's house and needed to see something with a bit more substance, a bit more importance.  Someone suggested the Civil Rights Museum. We went looking for it and couldn't find it.  Our directions kept taking us to an abandoned hotel.  It turns out this is the museum.  This is the hotel where he was murdered. The exhibits were fantastic. All of the human figures are made of cement so from a distance, you cant distinguish the different races.

Civil Rights Museum- Jackson, MS

This museum is filled with lots of artifacts from the dreadful days of the KKK and while this was repulsive to me, I was most moved by the exhibit of the differences in educational opportunities for blacks vs whites. This disparity was yet another purposeful example of how African Americans were not afforded an opportunity to reach the American Dream.

Central High School- Little Rock, AR
This is a must see museum.  How did those kids have the courage to face those angry, dangerous crowds.  One  student talked about seeing a woman about her mother's age.  So she sought this woman's comfort and the woman spit on her face.  Who would spit on a child?

African American Museum- DC
This is an exhausting museum.  It is large, dense and filled with horror and shame. After 3 hours, I was finished.  I couldn't take any more. And yet, there was so much more to see.

Brown v Board of Education- Topeka, KS

As a public school administrator, I studied this case and referred back to it throughout my entire career. So I was stunned when I was sitting in a bar in Topeka, KS and discovered that I was only a mile away from this museum.  It was late in the afternoon and I only had 1/2 hour to visit but that was plenty of time to move me to tears to know that this brave, little girl walked these halls and made such a huge impact on our nation.

Harriet Tubman Trail- MD

I've seen images of her mural plenty of time.  I thought is was beautiful so I really wanted to see it in person. I drove to Cambridge, MD and found it and just stood there.  I was so amazed at how moving this mural it.  I think it shook me because i never knew the mural was entitles "Take My Hand"  and the painting is so lifelike that it seems as if she was there, ready to pull me though my world in to her world.

Delaware Musuem- Wilmington, DE

This museum is in the old Woolworth's Store on Market Street. One section of the museum is filled with the nature life of the state.  The other section goes in to detail of its contribution to the Underground Railroad.