Civil Rights Road Tripping with Generation Z.  

Exposing-Educating GenZ to the Civil Rights movement.

I was blown away.  You could have knocked me over with a feather.  My wife and I were heading to Mobile, Alabama for her family’s reunion and the grandchildren stated they wanted to ride with Grannie Annie and Bob.  Are you schizing me?  They could have been there in a few hours flying with their Mom and Dad.  Shocking.

Life can be strange.  I am proud to say I was raised in the great state of New Jersey(I was born in Sumnter, South Carolina on my Dad’s return from North Africa/Italy during WWII.   Mom was from Hunterdon County, NJ and Dad was from Brooklyn.  It doesn’t get any more Yankee than that.  My wife was raised in Delaware, but ironically her mother is from Mobile(Mo-beel), Alabama(For Yankee readers this is the correct pronunciation, my first time I thought it was like the gas) and her father is from Philadelphia, Pa. I can tell you from my experiences living in the South, that a Southern Belle would marry a Yankee in the late 1930s is paramount to high treason

I’ve had the pleasure of attending quite a few family events in Alabama.  I always drive. I want to visit Civil War and Civil Rights historic sites in the South.  As a United States History fan I need to see the Civil War sites, but I am obsessed with Civil Rights sites.  Why?  I didn’t live through the Civil War, but in my lifetime Civil Rights and Race relations have been front-page news since I learned to see and hear.

I didn’t know a whole lot about either the Civil War or Civil Rights when I headed to Knoxville, TN for college in 1965.  That changed slowly at first and dynamically upon entering the Army in 1969.  That is a story for another day.

After some shocking life setbacks in the early ’90s, I found myself living in Richmond, Virginia in 1996. From that point to the present I have visited oodles of  Civil War and Civil Rights historic areas.  I know a little bit, but I am not a scholar on the subjects.   My goal is to put the location in context as to what actually occurred there.  I want to feel the setting.

Now for an Alabama family get together I was going to have a captive audience for a few days—grandkids. They are born and raised in the Richmond, VA area.  They are inundated daily with Civil War information.  To put this in perspective a few years ago my niece was exploring the University of Richmond. The University was contemplating offering her a partial athletic scholarship.  On her visit, as I showed her around the area she asked me, “Uncle Bob do they talk about the Civil War here much?  I started laughing and almost hit a telephone pole.  “Chrissy, only every freaking day.”

As kids are easily bored and I didn’t want an “Are we there yet.” trip, I planned to incorporate Civil Rights and Jim Crowe sites into the road trip.  I didn’t have an agenda. I just wanted to expose them to the “Movement”  and segregation. Their generation knows very little about the Civil Rights movement and Jim Crowe-Segregation as a way of life.

I frequently use simple analogies, I am a simple person, in explaining Segregation and Jim Crowe life. For example:

• Say you walk into a McDonalds, and sit down, and go to the counter, and the server is a black person and they tell you “sorry but we don’t serve your kind in here—you have to leave. “
• Or walk into a library(unheard of in their generation) and are told they can’t borrow a book. Books aren’t for you dumb ass crackers. This library is for black people only.
• Or you sign up for Facebook and are asked your race. Because you are white you can’t use it.
• Or the great one: you are driving with your grand-parents, heading for Mobeel, Alabama and you have to pee like two hours ago. Grandpa stops for gas and you run out of the car heading for the restrooms, but the attendant stops you in mid-step and asks, “Where you kids going?  You can’t use those restrooms. They are only for Black people.”  Well, what do you do now?

With all this in mind, we headed for Gulf Shores, Alabama.  Our first stop would be Greensboro, North Carolina.  The first civil rights sit-in occurred at an FW Woolworth(what my generation called a 5&10) lunch counter here in 1960.

Of course, they didn’t understand what a sit-in was or why it was necessary. After visiting the historically recreated site, they had their eyes opened.  The site is set up just as it existed in 1960, counter and all.  They got something out of it–education. The guide was excellent. A great stop for understanding what was going on. https://www.sitinmovement.org/

After spending the night outside of Spartanburg, SC, we headed for an extreme opposite view in racial relationships.  Next stop: The bastion of White Supremacy and “The Lost Cause”-Stone Mountain, Georgia

Here carved in stone, on the mountain, were three of the celebrated heroes of the Civil War.  The kids knew them as they are immortalized on Monument Avenue in Richmond.   Stone Mountain’s setting is pretty impressive jutting out of the flat land surrounding it.  It reminds one of the Devils Tower in Wyoming.  Here the discussion turned to the KKK rally’s that took place at the rock.  I pointed out Dr. King’s Dream speech referenced it at the Lincoln Memorial in 1963.  This gave the kids a glimpse into historic white supremacy.   https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/stone-mountain

From there it would be on to the most visual, actual monument to the Civil Rights Movement, Selma, Alabama, and the Edmund Pettis Bridge.  We drove through Atlanta and could have taken the Freedom Riders route, but I wanted them to experience the road the Montgomery Marchers took.  We spent the night outside Montgomery and headed out Alabama Rt. 80 the road of the Selma to Montgomery march in 1965 lead by Dr. King, Ralph Abernathy, John Lewis(one gutsy human being), Stokely Carmichael, Harry Belafonte, Tony Bennett, and a cast of hundreds.

These kids had seen footage of what occurred here, but there is nothing like visiting the Bridge to place it in context. They could understand that what occurred here brought the Civil Rights movement into the living room of America. I had been here a couple of times before.  It is a sacred site.  We all walked back and forth across the Bridge absorbing the setting and trying to imagine the monumental fear the people experienced upon cresting the Bridge and suddenly seeing all those boot-stomping Alabama State Troopers lined up to wreak havoc on their bodies.  Like anyone visiting the bridge, you shake your head in awe at the courage John Lewis and others displayed.  Man, they had to be scared sh…..  https://www.nps.gov/semo/index.htm

Driving away from Selma was a quiet journey.  There was some deep reflection going on.  Race Relations Education 101 was over until the return trip.  We deadheaded to Gulf Shoes and a fun week.  I fished, while the kids and Grannie Annie cavorted with the family.

Education 102 commenced on the return trip.   First stop-Montgomery, Alabama—the original Capital of the Confederacy. https://www.nps.gov/bicr/index.htm Here

• During the Bus Boycott, Dr. Martin Luther King’s star first flashed across the Universe.
• Dexter Avenue Baptist Church served as headquarters for the Boycott.  Dr. King was the pastor.
• Here on the steps of the Montgomery Capital, the same place Jeff Davis was sworn in as President of the Confederate States of America,  George Wallace stated “segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever” in his acceptance speech as Governor in 1963.

Our next stop would be Birmingham, Alabama, or as it was known in the ’60s–Bombingham. One memorable trip enlightenment took place here.  Arriving at the Historic District before 9 AM, we began walking the path at Kelly Ingram Park with the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church as a backdrop.  The path features haunting memorial statues depicting what had taken place here.  As we walked the homeless and drug-addicted residents started to wake up and move about.  I mean those kids got scared in a hurry. They had never seen this side of life up close and personal.

While the kids tried to observe the statues commemorating the events here, including the infamous Bull Connor-German Shepards in attack mode depiction, they couldn’t stop looking at those homeless people. Their eyes were bugged out of their heads.  I could only hope they recognized how fortunate they were to grow up in the family environment they had.  I am also sure for the first time in their life they were scared of being white.

• We took time to shoot some “I was there photos.”  to include the
• Rev. Fred Shuttleworth monument outside of the Civil Rights Institute, a giant of a man in the movement
• and the 16^th St. Baptist Church where the 4 young girls were blown up, while readying for Church, by 4 members of the KKK.
• On this somber note, we ended the educational tour.

From here it was a haul to get back to Richmond, Virginia.  They had to get back for some fru-fru event the next day.  I wouldn’t swear to it, but I believe the kids during their lifetime will always remember the trip and for sure the unnerving, educational, maturing moment in the Park.

Something worked! Claire, a couple of months later, came running up to me and excitingly told me they were studying Civil Rights in Class and she did a paper and presentation on the Edmund Pettis Bridge.  A pretty cool reward for me.