March 27, 2016

 Hi everyone.
Today we headed into the big city of Atlanta where there are often 7 or even 8 lanes of traffic on I-75 but what is worse is trying to cross the street  with 6 or more lanes.

Our focus today was the Martin Luther King Jr. Center and the Jimmy Carter Center and Museum.

Out first stop was the King Center...on Easter Sunday no less.  When we made the final turn, the parking was free...bonus.  If only there were any spaces available.  When we got inside the Visitor's Center, all the time slots for a tour of his boyhood home were gone.  MLK Jr Center

 The center was great and did a wonderful job on his life story.  Below is the carriage for his casket.

 The Ebenezer Baptist Church where he preached, often with his Dad who also was a preacher.

 This location is just up the street from the from the church where his service was held.  It is the beginning of the Freedom Trail that winds through neighborhoods, a distance of about 1.5 miles to the Jimmy Carter Center.

A little further up the same street is the home where MLK Jr grew up.  It was many years ago part of a segregated white neighborhood.  Over the years it became a black neighborhood with businesses that supported the black people.

Out next stop was the Jimmy Carter Center that contained his library and museum.  The grounds were beautiful.

President Jimmy Carter didn't start out as a politician but after giving more thought about what his dad did, after his dad Earl's death, he decided to get into politics.  This is a model of the USS Jimmy Carter, named for the only president ever to become an officer and serving on a submarine. He studied at Georgia Southwestern College and the Georgia Institute of Technology before entering the United States Naval Academy. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree and was commissioned as an Ensign in the United States Navy in 1946. After serving on conventional submarines in both the Atlantic and Pacific, Carter joined the Navy's pioneering nuclear submarine program. After graduate studies in nuclear physics at Union College in Schenectady, New York, Carter was selected by Admiral Hyman Rickover to serve as engineering officer of the Sea Wolf, America's second nuclear submarine.

 A mockup of President Carter's oval Office

President Carter after office has continued to do things that have helped the world community, more in particular in the underprivileged peoples of the African continent.  For his efforts,he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002.

 At the age of 91,he is still working for the poor people of the world.  River Blindness

 Tom remembered a class trip to the Maine Capitol building in the 5th grade.He and 2 other students were finally found in the then Hall of Flags.  Grammie wandered into the President Carter's Office.

Presented to Jimmy Carter for his nomination in 1976