the road King of
Fifty years on from the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr, Ella Buchan traces the history of the civil rights movement on a road trip through the Deep South
T
he words shuddered up my spine and caught in my
throat. Tour guide Barry McNealy was describing what happened right here, in this boxy kitchen, on September 15, 1963, when four children were killed as they dressed for Sunday service. Dynamite planted by white
supremacists tore through the basement of 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, where Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson and Denise McNair were changing into choir robes. Their bodies were ripped apart and fused together by the blast. The church is among many
sites across America’s south connected to the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 60s, a period many see as more pertinent than ever. “This is not a story about black
versus white,” said McNealy. “This is a story about man’s capacity for cruelty towards other men.” Last month marked 50 years
since Martin Luther King Jr was shot on the balcony of Memphis’s
Lorraine Motel, with various special events and itineraries launching around the anniversary. Here are some of the key
destinations along the civil rights trail through the south.
w ATLANTA, GEORGIA At the Martin Luther King Jr National Historic Site, visitors can tour his boyhood home, with rooms filled with family photographs. The site also includes Ebenezer Baptist Church, personal artefacts including a neatly-packed suitcase, and King’s burial place. Nearby, the African-American
Panoramic Experience (Apex) Museum tells history through a different lens, focusing on the abhorrence of slavery while highlighting stories of black astronauts and business owners. At the bigger Center for Civil and Human Rights, immersive exhibits include a lunch counter where visitors can experience just a hint of the physical and verbal abuse directed at students protesting segregation. In
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travelweekly.co.uk 3 May 2018
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