Dreamscapes Travel & Lifestyle

P O W E R T R I P ON A DARK PAST I t is only early spring, but the air is hot and heavy in Birmingham, my first stop on the Alabama Civil Rights Trail. I am standing in Kelly Ingram Park, where in May of 1963 over a thousand students were met with violence, dogs, and fire hoses as they protested racial segregation. I picture those innocent youth fighting tirelessly so that Black and biracial people like me could be recognized as human beings. This park has since been renovated, enclosed in a perfectly picturesque square. Today, pow- erful bronze statues vividly depict the gut-wrenching scenes. Four little girls who died in the 16 th Street Baptist Church bombing across the street are honoured in The Four Spirits sculpture. Another statue is of a boy flinching before a police officer and his dog, forever immortalized in bronze. At the memorial park's centre, an imposing statue of Martin Luther King Jr. is raised on a pedestal. All statues capture the struggles of the past and a promise of hope for the future. Established in 2004, the Alabama Civil Rights Trail identifies landmarks that serve as historic markers made by Black American communities in the U.S. civil rights movement. Recently 15 states joined Alabama to create the U.S. Civil Rights Trail, a nationwide collection of sites that commemorate the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. In three Alabama cities (Birmingham, Selma and Montgomery) famous for their civil rights demonstra- tions, I explore places that leave me both despondent by injustice and inspired by the continued resilience of the Black community. BY NATALIE PREDDIE The Sun Shines THE ALABAMA CIVIL RIGHTS TRAIL BETHEL BAPTIST CHURCH, BIRMINGHAM I arrive at Bethel Baptist Church, a small red-brick building that served as a meeting place during the '50s and '60s for those protesting inequality and segregation in Alabama. Daylight streams through the green and purple stained-glass windows as I enter the modest sanc- tuary, walking between the wooden pews toward the pulpit where civil rights giant Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once spoke. Although the space is small, it feels volumi- nous, as though an ocean could fit inside. This church, led by Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, became a launch pad for the modern civil rights movement. Although it was bombed on three separate occasions, the humble building was never destroyed and remains a symbol of the perseverance and tenacity of the movement. Bethel Baptist Church, which was designated as a National Landmark in 2005, has also been a UNESCO nominee seeking World Heritage Site status since 2008.

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