Tearing through Dixie
We are in the heart of Dixie now!
We spent a night in Atlanta, where we visited my friend David. This was my second time there, and once again I was struck by how much it seemed like a city even though one really needs a car to get around.
Tuskegee, Alabama turned out to be a very dreary small town. Nothing much to see there, except for the Tuskegee Institute (now University). That, too, seemed rather desolate, but perhaps that was a result of the campus being empty due to the winter holidays. We saw the exhibits dedicated to George Washington Carver, educator, scientist, inventor—and (though the museum did not explicitly state it) gay man.
Our next stop was Montgomery, state capital of Alabama and important site in the Civil Rights movement. This city, too, was bleak; it didn’t look like a very pleasant to live. The Rosa Parks Museum, however, was very moving. The exhibit skillfully guided visitors through the critical events that began in December, 1955, by means of footage, interpretation, and reenactments.
Mobile, Alabama, at last seemed like a hospitable city. Some of the architecture was reminiscent of what I expect New Orleans to be like, and it appears to have enough shops and nightlife to make it lively.
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