Hello Hank Williams and Rosa Parks
I am embarrassed that I momentarily have forgotten my history until I arrive smack in front of Montgomery’s Hank Williams Museum. Hank’s 50 are twanging gently echoes for all to hear as you amble along Commerce Street. I am delighted to be in the heart of country music heaven.
Just a few weeks away, however, the rhythm is different. The bat is more somber but just as memorable. To get there you have to walk through the site of the old Montgomery slave market. I am already uneasy about the history of this place.
The outdoor exhibit further up the road now refreshes so many memories for a time which now seems like so long ago. The photographs of the Freedom Riders arriving at the bus station are there enshrined forever. Nice portraits are flanked by vivid images of the riders after being attacked by a large angry mob. Yet, I sense Rosa Parks would be proud of her Montgomery today. We have come a long way, or have we?