Day two of the 2020 Civil Rights Trip

In Alabama, fourth graders study state history.
 

A visit to the Alabama State Capitol is required.
 

Climbing the front stairs to the entrance, they pass statues of three men: Jefferson Davis, John Allyn Wyeth and James Marion Sims.
 

The building served as the first Capitol of the Confederate States of America, and most of the interiors are maintained to appear as they would have one hundred and fifty years ago.
 

In a short tour like the one Gordon had today, the guide brings the group to two chambers.
 

The House chamber is described as the one in where the order to secede from the Union was drawn up in January 1861.
 

The Governor delivers the annual State of the State while sitting beneath a plaque commemorating this event.
 

The Senate chamber is explained as the space where the other seceding states gathered to draw up the Confederate States of America in February 1861.
 

The only people of color represented anywhere, doing anything, are African Americans hauling cotton and indigenous people surrendering to Andrew Jackson.
 

They are on murals alongside Jefferson Davis's inauguration as the president of the Confederate States of America.
 

Today, an eighth grader asked about the murals: "How do people in Alabama feel about this history? Is this being presented with pride?"
 

The answer was an unambiguous yes: "They view this history with pride."
 

Back on the bus, the students had a lot to process.
 

In an intense improvised seminar, they gave voice to their confusion and surprise about it all: the centrality of the Confederacy, the odd language used to describe slavery, the marginalization of indigenous people, the reluctance to discuss the Civil Rights Movement, the condescending dismissiveness about Dr. King, and more.
 

Their responses were clear, candid and forceful.
 

Their teachers listened and watched them work it out for themselves.
 

Across downtown at the Civil Rights Monument at the Southern Poverty Law Center, a very different Alabama history was being told.
 

The hosts were explicit: "We are very intentional about celebrating the people who are not in history books."
 

In their case, this meant showing Herbert Lee alongside Medgar Evers.
 

It means putting the names of museum visitors on the wall alongside historical legends.
 

It's a form of storytelling that the Gordon students are much more familiar with.
 

By way of closure, one of the guides shared that she was a lifelong Alabama citizen.

back to day one of the 2020 trip

ahead to day three