day 4

The welcome sign to Selma The Temple Mishkan Israel in Selma



Today we woke up, ate breakfast in Birmingham and Hannah and Sara Lynn swam in the hotel pool. We left around noon to drive to Selma. We thought that Selma would be dull because it is Sunday and Easter, so we did not expect much.
First, as we were driving into town, we noticed what looked like a Synagogue! It had been the Selma Synagogue for 100 years, but it was shut and no one was there.
We then drove to the downtown near the bridge and expected just to walk around and take some pictures. We parked in front of the Voting Rights museum (closed), and noticed across the street that there was a building that had a British, American, and Israeli flag flying from it! The building was called the "Harmony Club". The current owners of the building happened to be leaving as we walked over and we asked them why the Israeli flag was flying. They told us that they believed that Great Britain and Israel were the only countries that were consistently our allies. The Harmony Club was build as a Jewish gentleman's club that was active until the 1970s. The owner gave us a tour of the building, which was amazing! We put a picture of the ballroom on the post.
After the tour, we went to the bridge and took some pictures. We went back to the car and we expected to drive to Montgomery, but the director of the Voting Rights museum was entering the museum to provide a tour to a visiting group that was to arrive in 20 minutes, so she offered us to join the tour. The tour was amazing, she had been 8 years old when the march to Montgomery took place. She described their first walk that led to Bloody Sunday, where her sister was injured and then about the walk a week later. Hannah, Sara Lynn, and Jack were mesmorized as she described her childhood as a black girl growing up in Selma.
The museum also has a wall that has small cards written by people that were at the march. We found a card written by Sister Ebo, the nun that Rabbi Lipnick was charged with guarding during the marches. We put a photo of her card on this Blog.
After our amazing tour, we drove by the depot and Brown Chapel and then drove to Montgomery. We are staying in a nice bed and breakfast after eating a Chinese dinner (the only restaurant open on Sunday, Easter night!).