The National Memorial for Peace and Justice is located about a 15-minute walk away from the Legacy Museum. It’s really pretty from the outside with beautifully landscaped plant beds and a brown wood fence surrounding the Memorial. I’d read about lynchings before in books about Ida B. Wells and At the Hands of Persons Unknown. But it was something different to walk through the National Memorial for Peace and Justice and crane your neck to look at all of these blocks knowing that each one of them represented the loss of at least one person’s life. It’s important to note that this isn’t a memorial to lynching but rather a memorial to those who lost their lives to lynching. So the focus is on those who lost their lives rather than those who participated in lynchings.
Tag: civil rights
Coming of Age in Mississippi by Anne Moody is the story of a young Black woman coming of age in rural Mississippi during the 40’s and 50’s. The book begins with Anne Moody’s early life as the eldest child of sharecroppers on a large plantation. Her father, Daddy, is a womanizer and gambler. While her mother, Mama, struggles to maintain stable committed relationships with her husbands/lovers.
Watch Me Fly is more than the story of the widow of a civil rights hero. It’s also the story of a rather sheltered woman who struggles to find herself in her thirties after her world is ripped apart. I’d recommend Watch Me Fly if you’re interested in the Civil Rights Movement or the Black experience. But, the book also delves into Myrlie’s personal journey and her quest to improve herself. Watch Me Fly could also be very appealing if you’re into self-help books or are looking for motivation to become better versions of themselves.
Selma provides a snapshot of the efforts to end systematic suppression of Black voting and other civil rights in the South. The film focuses on the SCLC and SNCC organized Selma to Montgomery marches of 1965. It also takes a close look at Martin Luther King, Jr.’s (David Oyelowo) lobbying meetings with President Lyndon B. Johnson (Tom Wilkinson).
At the Dark End of the Street by Danielle L. McGuire tells the story of Black women’s fight to obtain civil rights and equal legal protection against rape and sexual harassment. I recommend the book for a different perspective on Rosa Parks and the Civil Rights Movement. It’s a good jumping off point for learning about some of the less celebrated women of the Civil Rights Movement. While it doesn’t really directly discuss feminism or womanism it does touch on topics related to those ideologies.