New Friendships, New Understandings

Today wrapped up the weekend long retreat of Kids In Birmingham 1963.  This group, with contributors from across the country gathered here to meet each other and share their experiences. I was privileged to join the group for church yesterday at the 16th Street Baptist Church and again today at Parker High School. We were delighted to be joined by an impressive group of the school's leaders. This activity of joining hands and showing appreciation for each other was especially meaningful for me.

For those of you who grew up in Birmingham in 1963, I encourage you to share your story on the website. If you are a teacher in the Birmingham area and would like some of us to come and speak with your class, please contact Ann Jimerson via the website.

Many thanks to Ann Jimerson and her committee for planning a most memorable weekend.

Never Forget

Today I joined fellow Kids in Birmingham 1963 contributors who were in town for a weekend long retreat.  Each of us were growing up in this city during the Civil Rights Movement and have our own stories to tell. I was fortunate to join the group today for services at the 16th Street Baptist Church, the site of the September 15, 1963 church bombing. We gathered before for a group photo surrounding Birmingham artists Elizabeth MacQueen's beautiful memorial sculpture, The Four Spirits.

A special thank you to the congregation at the church for a warm welcome. I wish you all could have heard that wonderful message and music. It was very special sitting in that sacred space on this day.

* Many of the members of this group live here in Birmingham are eager to come speak to school or other groups in at the Birmingham area.  Contact Ann Jimerson on the website for more information.

May We Move Forward

This day in 1963, a bomb ripped through the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham and killed four young girls and injured more church members. It propelled the Civil Rights Movement forward to honor the lives lost that day. Our city had made great strides since that awful day, but we and our nation have a long way to go to erase racial prejudice in this country. May those lives lost be not in vain.

This sculpture, The Four Spirits, exquisitely created by Birmingham sculptor Elizabeth MacQueen is placed just across from the church in Kelly Ingram Park.

For more information, from people here in Birmingham who lived during this time in 1963, I urge you to visit, Kids in Birmingham in 1963. a site where many of us here in Birmingham, share our stories. 

Welcome to Birmingham Oakwood School!

I count last Tuesday as one of the best days ever.  I was so fortunate to join four other speakers from KIDS  IN BIRMINGHAM 1963 as we talked with the Oakwood School 7th and 8th graders from North Hollywood CA.  Oh my, what a wonderful and powerful meeting that was. My fellow speakers all experienced the Civil Rights Movement in 1963 in different ways. The students came all this way to travel to Montgomery, Birmingham, and then Mississippi and Little Rock, as part of a very special school diversity immersion project.  I was so very impressed with the thoughtful questions these students asked and count meeting them as a very special day  for me.

Like Going Home Again

Yesterday, I had the privilege of visiting Shades Cahaba Elementary.  Not only did my girls and I attend school there, but I taught third grade for 19 years.  I was invited by my friend and fellow teacher Delaine Ragland to come and speak to her class about what it was like growing up in Birmingham during the Civil Rights Movement here in  Birmingham.  Delaine found my comments on Kids in Birmingham 1963, which is a wonderful resource for teachers and students as well.

We had a wonderful time together and her students were a terrific audience and asked some excellent questions. I'm looking forward to visiting their classroom again at the culmination of their study to see them present what they learned.