A Century That Changed America

Montgomery, Alabama has the dual distinction as “The Cradle of the Confederacy” and the “Birthplace of Civil Rights.”  The orders to fire the first shots on Ft. Sumter, setting off the Civil War, were signed at and sent from the Winter Building on Dexter Avenue.  Jefferson Davis was sworn in as the President of the Confederacy on the front steps of the State Capitol building.  Across the street from the Capitol stands the first White House of the Confederacy, where President and Mrs. Davis lived for three months, before the capital of the Confederate States of America was relocated to Richmond, Virginia.

It was in this building that the vote was cast for cession from the Union and the Confederate
States of America was formed.  Jefferson Davis of Mississippi was named President of the CSA

One of two matching cantilevered staircases going from the first to the third floors. This view is the
second floor, going up to the third floor.  The other staircase is directly behind the photographer.

 


Dome of the capital, looking up from the first floor.



This plaque, in the former Senate Chamber, commemorates the founding of the CSA



 

Dining room in the first Confederate "White House"




President Jefferson Davis' bedroom



The First Lady's bedroom



The first and second sitting rooms in the Confederate "White House"



Almost a hundred years later history was again made in this same vicinity.  Dexter Avenue leads up to Goat Hill, the site upon which the Capitol is built.  Two blocks from the capitol is the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, where a young preacher, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., began his ministry.  (In fact, it is the only church where Dr. King ever served as pastor.)  Nearby is the site where Rosa Parks was arrested on December 1, 1955 for refusing to give up her seat on a city bus to a white man.  The resulting Montgomery Bus Boycott ended after 381 days when the Supreme Court declared segregation on public transportation unconstitutional.  And on March 25, 1965, the five day, fifty-four mile Selma-to-Montgomery Civil Rights March, led by Dr. King, ended at those same capitol steps.

The Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. began his
ministry, is now on the National Register of Historic Places



Thirty-eight miles from Montgomery is the town of Tuskegee, home of Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University.)  Tuskegee Institute was at one time headed by Dr. George Washington Carver, a botanist, educator and inventor best known for his research into and promotion of alternative crops to cotton, such as peanuts, soybeans and sweet potatoes, which also aided nutrition for farm families.  Tuskegee Institute, itself, however, is best known for training the Tuskegee Airmen.   Until 1939, African-Americans were excluded from flying in the Army Air Corps.  Anticipating that the United States might be drawn into World War II, Congress passed the Civilian Pilot Training Act to train a large number of pilots.  Six Black colleges and one private flying school were included as training centers.
 

Hanger #1 at Moton Field.  This building also contained the first "integrated" lunch
room/snack bar in the armed forces.

Hanger #2 and the control tower. Both hangers now contain museums of the Tuskegee Airmen.

 

The PT-13 Stearman open-cockpit biplane was the trainer used at Tuskegee

The military and the public were resistant in their acceptance of African-American pilots.  Two factors helped to overcome this resistance:  Public Law 18 of April 1939 and the support of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt.  A newspaper photo showing a smiling Eleanor Roosevelt in an airplane piloted by Charles Anderson garnered public support.  Charles Anderson, who with Dr. Albert Forsythe, were the first African-American pilots to make a round trip trans-continental flight, oversaw the primary flight training of the majority of the Tuskegee Airmen.

Stars on the map show where the pilots who trained at Tuskegee came from.
By the end of the war, Tuskegee had trained 994 pilots and over 17,000
mechanics, fuelers, and other ground support personnel

In 1943 the 99^th Fighter Squadron was sent to North Africa to fly P-40s on patrol and as bomber escorts.  The 99th later flew P-47s and finally P-51 aircraft.  American bomber crews called them the “Red-Tail Angles” because of their planes’ distinctive red tail sections (painted by the pilots themselves) and because they were known to never abandon the bombers that they were assigned to escort and protect.

Flight jacket and other gear used by the Tuskegee Airmen

Replica of a P-47, with "red tail", flown by the 99th Fighter Squadron

 



The Tuskegee Airmen compiled an impressive combat record.  Collectively,
the 332nd Fighter Group earned 96 Distinguished Flying Crosses

 Moton Field, where most of the training took place, is now a National Historic Site.

For over 100 years, for good or for bad, Montgomery was right in the center of events that changed America.  Today Montgomery continues its role as the political hub of Alabama and a culturally prominent city.  One can attend a play at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, ranked as one of the ten largest in the world, or cheer on the Biscuits, the Class AA baseball team affiliated with the Tampa Bay Rays, at Riverwalk Stadium, or visit the Rosa Parks Library and Museum or stop and see Old Alabama Town, a collection of over 40 authentically restored 19^th and early 20^th century buildings located right in the city’s downtown area. 

The Alabama State Archives building is more than a repository of state records.  It contains a
a very good museum with a new exhibit, Voices of Alabama, depicting the history of the
state from settlement by the French to expeditions to the moon.

One section of the Voices of Alabama exhibit shows "modern inventions" that
made life easier for many people after World War II

Hank Williams, Sr. was from Montgomery.  The Voices of Alabama includes
one of the western suits he wore when he performed at the Grand Old Opry

Entrance to The Alley, the revitalized "entertainment district" in downtown Montgomery 

The Montgomery Biscuits stadium, built in 2004

 

The Biscuits stadium used an historic building, headquarters of the Western
Railway of Alabama, as its offices and gift shop.  The stadium is built
right up against the back wall of the railway building

 

Union Station, once a busy railroad depot, has be restored and now
houses a restaurant and the Montgomery Visitors Center

 

Beautiful mosaic tile floor in Union Station

The former train shed behind Union Station, taken from the landing on the Alabama River.
The tunnel on the left in this picture was constructed to allow wagons to pass under the busy
railroad tracks to bring bales of cotton to steamboats waiting at the wharf for shipment to Mobile

 

As the Spearmint advertisement on the exterior wall of a former dry goods store indicates, Montgomery is a blend of the old and new.  There is plenty to see and do in this capital city.  Take a trip to Montgomery and experience your own Road Stories.

While we were visiting the capitol, Governor Robert Bentley (seated) signed legislation
to compensate victims of violent crime.  The signing took place in the former House
chamber and this picture was taken from the gallery overlooking the House floor.