Atlanta — It felt like someone was kicking the back of my stool. “Get the fuck outta here boy!” an angry voice shouted. The kicking became more intense and the voices closer to my ears. The harassment I was getting was at a simulated segregated lunch counter exhibit designed to show visitors to the National Center for Civil and Human Rights what non violent protesters experienced in the early 1960’s. The challenge is to stay seated and avoid reacting. I doubt if I could’ve remained as strong and composed as those brave young men and women. My first reaction would be to turn around and attempt to break the jaw of the first red neck cracker I saw, but the non violent actions of those men and women helped bring an end to segregation and racist Jim Crow laws in Atlanta and throughout the South.

More than any other city Atlanta benefited from the civil rights movements of the 1960’s, but change only came after years of struggle and sacrifice. There are many places to learn about the people and events in the civil rights movement. Here are some of the places I visited:

Located next to the World of Coca Cola and the Georgia Aquarium the National Center for Civil and Human Rights features exhibits and interactive displays like the segregated lunch counter. Other exhibits show what life was like in 1950’s segregated Atlanta, honor the freedom riders students who in 1961 rode interstate buses in order to desegregate the South, an exhibit on the 1963 March on Washington and a tribute to Martin Luther King Jr., Medgar Evers and other martyrs who lost their lives while trying to make change in the South. https://www.civilandhumanrights.org/to

Like Greenwood in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Sweet Auburn Avenue was known as “The Black Wall Street.” You can take a trolley or walk down it and visit The Martin Luther King Jr. National Park and the King Center to learn about the life of Martin and Coretta Scott King. https://www.nps.gov/malu/index.htm

The park is run by the National Park Service. Admission is free but arrive early if you want to reserve a tour of MLK’s birth home and the Ebenezer Baptist Church where King preached.

Just north of the King Center on Auburn Avenue is the APEX (African American Panoramic Experience Museum. I was told that if I visited it would be the best $12.00 I ever spent. Well after my visit, I guess it would be hard to argue against that. The museum has an excellent display on Africa, the slave trade and an exhibit on Black inventors and Black women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). https://www.apexmuseum.org/

I also chose to take a Black History and Civil Rights Tour with Roundabout Tours. Our guide Jeff Moore had much knowledge about Atlanta’s history and stories about the civil rights movement. He also showed us many locations that were used for filming movies and television shows, including a stop a Tyler Perry Studios. https://www.roundaboutatlanta.com/