Forty five years ago today (April 4th), Martin Luther King was assassinated at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis Tennessee at the age of 39. Today we are in Montgomery Alabama and learned that the bus transit authority required that any black must give up their seat to any white. The humiliation was extreme and worse than having to endure separate bathrooms, separate movie theaters, and separate restaurants. Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat per the Transit Authority rules (not a segregation law) and was arrested. This evolved into a boycott (that lasted over a year) of riding the buses. The boycott was organized and led by Martin Luther King, a 25 year old minister of the Dexter Ave Baptist Church (his first and only ministerial assignment). Also in Montgomery is the Civil Rights Memorial dedicated to those who were killed while trying to achieve equal rights. The Civil Rights Memorial is designed by the same artist, Maya Lin, who also did the Vietnam War Memorial in DC. Standing in front of the Civil Rights Memorial draws out deep emotional feelings for those brave souls who had the personal power to stand up for their beliefs and rights, even though it cost the ultimate price—their own life.
So it was with Martin Luther King - a follower of Christ’s messages, an eloquent speaker, a philosopher, a dreamer, a pacifist, and a leader who truly inspires many. We have been to Atlanta, to Memphis, and now to Montgomery and want to share, on this day, some of what we saw and learned about him in the photos.
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