Montgomery Confronts its Mixed History of Slavery and Civil Rights

Montgomery, like many Southern cities, has a dramatic mixed history – about 100 years apart – of slavery and the fight for civil rights. I think the city does a good job of confronting and dealing with it honestly. Here are just a couple (of many) examples. We visited the stirring and excellent Rosa Parks Museum at Troy University, which dealt both with her heroic decision on a Montgomery public bus in December 1955, and the civil rights movement in general; and we toured the “First White House of the Confederacy,” home to Confederate States of America (CSA) President Jefferson Davis and his family in early 1861 before the Confederacy moved its capital to Richmond, Virginia. There are numerous examples of slavery and civil rights history throughout the city, which makes it worth visiting to gain a sense of the city, the region, and the country during both the Civil War and civil rights eras.