Alabama Prime Times     February 1999

Fulfilling the Dream

 
Martin Luther King, Jr. speaking to the Montgomery Improvement Association in 1955.
Photo: Dan Weiner courtesy of Sandra Weiner

...an Alabama                 Perspective

Martin Luther King, Jr.’s
first speech as president of the Montgomery Improvement Association was delivered in the Mount Zion AME Church on Holt Street on December 5th, 1955. This, the first of his Movement orations, set the theme for the next twelve years. These eloquent words from that occasion are engraved on the wall of the Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery. King's famous, "I Have a Dream..." speech was given in Washington, D.C. on August 28th, 1963, nearly five years before his assassination on April 4th, 1968. In his final speech the previous day, King said, "I may not get there with you..." Indeed, in body he did not, but his spirit continues to inspire and encourage the beliefs and ideals by which he lived and died.

Across the state, civic-minded individuals and groups use their talents and influence to nurture and empower the continuing process of implementing an integrated society through art, music, dance, educational programs and open forums of discussion.

Recently, the Alabama Coalition for Tomorrow (ACT), a multi-ethnic group from various business associations, traversed the state holding town hall meetings. The purpose was to elicit public opinion on issues of prime importance for the Legislature to respond to in helping Alabama prepare for the 21st Century.

    ...until justice runs down like water, and
    righteousness like a mighty stream.

Civil Rights Monument at the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery

               "We must learn to live together as brothers...."
                     ---  Martin Luther King, Jr.

Priscilla Crommelin-Ball, artistic director of the Montgomery Ballet, with the ballet class she established at Loveless Elementary School

Loveless Elementary School Ballet Class		 Civil Rights Museum in Birmingham

Exhibits and educational programs initiated by the Birmingham Civil Rights Museum have inspired and
empowered children
and adults

In Selma, Montgomery, Birmingham and other major cities of Alabama, groups like One Montgomery (pictured below) and The Friendly Supper Club meet regularly to socialize and to work toward building cultural harmony in their communities

One Montgomery gathering A better understanding of the social and economic impact of historical events will enable Alabamians to forge a new unity and a new prosperity--spiritually and financially.

George Washington Carver Museum

The George Washington Carver exhibit at Carver Museum highlights the career of an internationally renowned and respected biologist, inventor and educator. His life work epitomizes African-Americans whose achievements and successes against seemingly insurmountable odds, serve as inspirational models.

 Thanks to museum exhibits such as ones in the Alabama Music Hall of Fame in Tuscumbia, the W.C. Handy Museum in Florence and the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame in Birmingham, people and history come alive.

Alabama Music Hall of Fame

    "Love is the only force capable of making an enemy into a friend."
-Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Below: sculpture, Earth Nest, by Marianne Meier on display
at the Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church,
Montgomery. Commissioned to commemorate the
beginning of an interracial friendship.

Students experience a sense of being there as they learn
about world-riveting events in Selma while participating
in an outdoors classroom within the shadow of
Edmund Pettus Bridge.

Earthnest, by Marianne Meier
Photo:  Major Cox

             Selma class

Fulfilling dreams 10.jpg (19942 bytes)Perhaps no other event riveted the attention of a nation to the Civil Rights Movement division in Alabama more than the Right to Vote March from Selma to Montgomery. On that historic occasion, the campus of St. Jude in Montgomery offered a haven on the last night of the March.

In 1998, the course of the March was designated as a National Historic Trail. To commemorate the event and in recognition of the marchers who braved hostile opposition and the elements, the erection of an interpretive center, gift shop, museum and re-enactment site on the grounds of St. Jude is planned. Design and implementation of the site is under the direction of McKissack & McKissack Architects, Montgomery.

The Rosa Parks Library at Troy State University in downtown Montgomery, and the Bus Station Museum on South Court Street, are also under construction. These projects are expected to be completed during the year 2000: an appropriate tribute to the positive direction of a new millennium of diversified unity in the state of Alabama.

ONE MONTGOMERY meets for breakfast every Tuesday morning at 7:00 am in the Goode Medical Building executive dining room, Jackson Hospital, Montgomery.  Contact Sadie Penn at 834-0195 Find the good. 
It's all around you.
Find it, showcase it and you'll start believing in it.
---Jesse Owens		 FRIENDLY SUPPER CLUB meets on the first Monday of each month at 6:00 pm, Picadilly Cafeteria, Montgomery.  Contact Johnnie Carr 263-7120.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:

McKissack & McKissack Architects for their financial assistance enabling us to procure important photographs. Frances Smiley, CTIS, Group Travel Coordinator, Alabama Tourism & Travel for assistance in locating photographs.

Published February 1999, Alabama Prime Times
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