Sunday, March 31, 2013

March 31, 2013

Happy Easter everyone.  I mentioned yesterday a docent named Aroine Irby.

Aroine  was 19 years old when the march to Montgomery took place.  Today, he does 4 tours of the Capitol building on Saturdays.  The building is now mostly a museum, except for the Office of the Governor Robert Bentley and his primary staff. 
As we walked around the building listening to the history of the building, interspersed with his take on the events, it became apparent that he believes that he is living in the best time in history.  For Aroine, who grew up in Alabama during the difficult 50’s and 60’s, today is like a cakewalk. He truly believes that living nowadays are the best days of his life.
Among the things that happened were his listening to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. speak
He was present on the Edmund Pettus Bridge on Bloody Sunday
He marched from Selma to Montgomery
He later was educated at University of Alabama
He was an educated  in Aeronautical engineering at Tuskegee Institute. He would use this education to join the United States Air Force in which he served for over 20 years.
His service included time flying F4's in Vietnam.

He ended up working for Gov. George Wallace who as many remember was about "segregation today, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever"
Upon Aroine's retirement he went back to college to obtain his PhD in History.  
He now works for the Alabama Historical Commission, Capitol Division.
It was truly a privilege and honor to meet someone who took part in the civil rights movement.

Today we took off for Selma Alabama where the historic events of March 7, 9 and 21 to 25 started.

The Brown Church where the March 21st to 25th, 1965 began.



The Edmund Pettus Bridge...site of Bloody Sunday.



Rosa Parks famous bus stop location




And not to forget, Alabama is rich in Civil War history.



A late afternoon meal at Wintzell's Oyster House led to a couple of pics of humorous sayings.




Finally got a pic of Grammie and her Easter Bonnet






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