A Civil Rights Pilgrimage to Alabama
April 24, Montgomery
Following Morning Prayer, our pilgrims visited the Equal Justice Initiative National Memorial for Peace and Justice.
On a hilltop overlooking Montgomery is the nation’s first comprehensive memorial dedicated to the legacy of Black Americans who were enslaved, terrorized by lynching, humiliated by racial segregation, and presumed guilty and dangerous.
The monument at the Peace and Justice Memorial Center commemorates 24 people who were killed in racially motivated attacks during the 1950s, including Emmett Till.
More than 4,400 Black people killed in racial terror lynchings between 1877 and 1950 are remembered here. Their names are engraved on more than 800 weathered steel monuments—one for each county where a racial terror lynching took place—that form the main structure of the memorial at the heart of this six-acre site.
Our pilgrims also visited the Montgomery Interpretive Center and the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd before taking a panoramic tour of Montgomery with a stop at the Freedom Rides Museum.
Challenging the South’s failure to enforce the Supreme Court decision in Boynton v. Virginia (1960), which ruled that segregation of public buses was unconstitutional, foot soldiers of the Civil Rights Movement began the Freedom Rides. The Freedom Riders rode interstate buses across the South and drew national attention to their cause because of the violence that often erupted against them.
On May 20, 1961, Freedom Riders traveling by bus through the South to challenge segregation laws were brutally attacked by a white mob at the Greyhound Station in downtown Montgomery, Alabama. The bus station has been restored to how it looked in 1961 and is operated as the Freedom Rides Museum.
Video Reflections
The Rev. Angela Furlong and the Rev. Pan Conrad reflect with Canon Randy Callender on day four of our pilgrimage in the video window below.
Resources
National Memorial for Peace and Justice
EJI Water Monument [PDF]
Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) Legacy Sites
United States Civil Rights Trail — Montgomery
Lynchings in Maryland: Reflection and Lamentation – Trail of Souls 2024 [Maryland Episcopalian]
Maryland Lynching Memorial Project
Written Reflections from our Pilgrims
Reflection on Day Four by Canon Randy Callender [PDF]
Join our pilgrims in prayer as they make their way through Birmingham, Montgomery and Selma. Throughout their journey they will share reflections and experiences with you in a variety of ways – prayers, photos, images, and videos are on our Facebook page, through emails, and on our Maryland Episcopalian storytelling website.
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About Truth and Reconciliation in the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland
The work of reconciliation is a fundamental calling for the Diocese of Maryland. Reconciliation builds on our understanding of history, provides energy for the present, and forms the foundation to our future as faithful members of the body of Christ. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission is an ongoing commission focused on enhancing existing efforts to eradicate racism, researching the history of slavery in our diocese and its residual impact, as well as reparations.
