If you want to learn the true history of the sin of enslavement in the United States, come to Alabama, in the heart of the old confederacy. On the federal level, Trump and Hegseth are whitewashing the story. Thanks to their massive coverup, the Smithsonian and our national parks may soon be temples of fake old news.
But Trump can’t tell the Black Heritage Council of the Alabama Historical Commission what to do. It has plaques about slavery all over Montgomery. According to one, at a small downtown park now anomalously dedicated to the value of education through commerce, Montgomery in 1859 had as many human trafficking depots as hotels and banks combined.
It is not for a visitor to assume to know much about a state population’s struggle with their past. It must be a continuing, often painful process. The grounds of the state capitol are still chockablock with confederate memorials, including to the high priest of United States traitors, Jefferson Davis.
But he has some decent company now. Across a grand staircase from Davis’s monument stands a magnificent new statue of Rosa Parks. The work of Julia Knight, it was dedicated by the Alabama Women’s Tribute Statue Commission last fall, the 70th anniversary of Parks’ carefully planned disobedience on a city bus, which sparked the modern civil rights movement.
The Montgomery museums and monuments cofounded by attorney and civic prophet Bryan Stevenson are also presumably out of the reach of Trump’s lies and intimidation. He will be the plenary speaker at the National Association of Episcopal Schools diversity and justice conference I’m attending this week along with several Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles colleagues, including Drs. Christopher Dennis and Toya Holiday, respectively the Campbell Hall associate head of school and director of diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice.
Stevenson’s institutions include The Legacy Museum: From Enslavement to Mass Incarceration and The National Memorial for Peace and Justice, which we’ll visit or revisit during the conference. During my walk this morning, I had hoped for a preview of his Freedom Monument Sculpture Park, but it’s closed Tuesdays.
As I approached, two security guards and one staff member made a point of looking me in the eye and engaging in conversation. The guard stationed in his car at the parking lot entrance asked if I was just out for a walk. I assured him I was. I appreciated their being friendly. Then I realized the truth. They were being careful. In Alabama, especially after Jan. 6, they know what domestic terrorists really look like.
