In an unprecedented product launch, the Alabama Tourism Department is soon to release its new 'Alabama Civil Rights Trail' podcast. The three-part series delves deeper into the state's pivotal role in the Civil Rights Movement than most American history books ever have, telling the stories of the many foot soldiers for the Movement who helped change the course of the nation's history.
"Our new Alabama Civil Rights Trail podcast series will bring the state's role in the Civil Rights Movement to life for listeners," said Lee Sentell, director of the Alabama Tourism Department. "Our goal is for listeners to learn more about the history of the movement and how Alabama played a critical role in shaping voting rights and equality for everyone."
Part of the podcast's purpose is to demonstrate how events that occurred over half a century ago continue to play a role in the ongoing struggle for racial equality. And, how the lessons of history can be applied to events happening in today's world.
Most U.S. schoolchildren are familiar with the catalytic moment in 1955 when Rosa Parks refused to relinquish her seat to a white man on a Montgomery city bus. But, there are many more stories of men and women who took a stand against segregation, some of whom even won their cases when taken to the Supreme Court, that are largely passed over in history lessons. Despite Supreme Court rulings in 1946 and 1960 declaring segregation on buses and in bus terminals unconstitutional, these verdicts were largely ignored in the southern states.
Episode One of the 'Alabama Civil Rights Trail' podcast takes an in-depth look into the activists known as "Freedom Riders", who boarded buses bound from New Orleans from Washington D.C. in May 1961 with the aim of spotlighting the Supreme Court's ruling by publicly challenging continued segregation practices across the South.
"(The Freedom Rides) was actually a transformative moment in civil rights history," said Dorothy Walker, director of the Freedom Rides Museum, which now inhabits the historic Greyhound Bus station where Freedom Riders were violently attacked in May 1961. "This was the psychological turning point in the entire struggle."
Episode Two delves deeper into events that took place in Birmingham from the late 1950s through the mid-1960s, including bombings and other terrorizing activities that were intended to suppress the growing Civil Rights Movement. These suppression efforts actually had the opposite effect, fueling activists' resolve and drawing new supporters, both within and outside of Alabama.
Episode Three chronicles the well-known voting rights marches from Selma to Montgomery, which radically influenced the passage of the Voting Rights Act. Ed Bridges, director emeritus of the Alabama Department of Archives and History, has provided a broader geopolitical view of the times and explores the elements that eventually led the federal government to become involved in the Civil Rights Movement.
The 'Alabama Civil Rights Trail' podcast can be accessed via the Alabama Tourism Department's website and is also available on Apple, Spotify, iHeartRadio or wherever you listen to podcasts.
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