Another Important Civil Rights Site

On our second full day in Atlanta Marisa took us to see the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site. This is an impressive experience. Genuinely one of the most important sites to see in Atlanta.

The site is actually several blocks of buildings that include the museum but also MLK's church, his tomb and the house where he was born. Upon entering the entry walkway to the museum we were greeted with several long rows of squares with various civil rights figures names written on them. Among these names was Medgar Evers, which tide the beginnings of our families exploration of the civil rights sites together.

The museum section of the Historic Site is filled with interactive and multimedia displays.

The Room Where the Assassination Pictures Are Hung, and the Cart His Body Was Carried In For the Funeral

The Statue In the Center of the Museum Depicting People Marching for Freedom

SNCC Is One of the Organization Names Listed in the Statue Commemorating the Civil Rights Journey

I found myself tearing up or struck silent with intensity in almost every section. Other people were openly sobbing in the room displaying his assassination, or tense with rage watching video coverage of the various atrocities and histories of racism.

A Description of the Children's March in Birmingham Honored in Kelly Ingram Park

The church that had been party of MLK's family history was just across the street from the museum. It had been fully restored and was an interesting type of historical experience. I found it ironic that we were sitting in a church on Sunday, but that we were there to site see.

The Church Has Sermons and Speeches From MLK's Collection

Sitting Quietly In a Museum Church Is Just As Hard As Sitting Quietly In a Regular Church

The place where King and his wife Coretta are buried is a little bit weird.

It is the obvious location for their tomb, but the fountain that surrounds them is a strange design, somewhat too monumental and austere surrounded by so many other more intimate and personal monuments to his life.

The House Where Martin Luther King Jr. Was Born

We couldn't help ourselves we had to buy books and a CD of his speeches, and we also got t-shirts for the kids. We hadn't been compulsively shopping most of this road trip. It is hard to be sure whether it was because the information was so compelling we wished to bring a bit of it with us, or whether the shopping experience was a balm to normalize and calm us after so much intensity.

After the museum Marisa took us to a wonderful restaurant called Highland Bakery. The food was excellent nouveau-southern and our waitperson was so nice to the kids they didn't want to leave. Hannah. A good thing as we were all pretty wiped out when we arrived.

Tired Girl and Emotional Dada