Page 130 - Middle Georgia State University - Knighted 2019

eyes when I read an old hymn speaking of how one day, in Heaven, they would all be
reunited. The faith of those being torn apart astounded me.

The Museum showcased the progression of African-American bondage from
enslavement, to peonage, to the modern use of the prison system. One picture, in
particular, illustrated the entire theme of the museum: a group of black inmates walk in a
line together, with a white guard riding on horseback beside them. The prison where this
picture was taken was in Louisiana, built on a former plantation. The criminal justice
system needs reform. The number of prisoners, their conditions, and the inherited,
systematic racism inbred in the courts has not been sufficiently addressed. While I must
admit that there is a clear bias in the message presented within the exhibits, the layout
and power of the material presented was enough to steer me towards activism and the
pursuit of change. I believe everyone who can should visit and explore this portion of
America’s past, if not as an obligation to those who were sacrificed in the process of
creating this Nation, then for one’s gaining of knowledge, and perspective.

After a long day of exploring Montgomery, seeing the National Memorial for
Peace and Justice and the Legacy Museum, we, as a group, wandered the streets directly
in front of Alabama’s state capital building. We passed the red brick church which served
as the cornerstone for the civil rights movement and walked downhill for a friendly and
enjoyable dinner. As we were walking, I noticed, sitting perched at the top of the steps
which rose up to the capital building, was a statue of Jefferson Davis, the president of the
Confederacy. He looks out over Montgomery, standing tall and proud cast in iron,
immortalized. The juxtaposition between this statue and that of the National Memorial
for Peace and Justice shocked me. Both look out over the city, one clinging to past, one

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