The USS Alabama is the most visited attraction in the state of Alabama. It’s big, and 2,500 people were on board
During Operation Magic Carpet which was bringing troops home after the war, the ship had 3,500 people on board.
The USS Alabama is a floating city with a post office, dentist, doctor, X-ray lab, printing office, water, jail, etc. It has pretty much everything that someone needs. They eat fresh fruits and vegetables for the first two weeks and then use cans until they arrive in port to restock. They even had a spud locker to keep potatoes.
Rob’s father, John Robert Williams Street, was in the Navy during WWII and was in the Pacific. He died almost 40 years ago so Rob didn’t get a chance to learn his story. Rob has written the United States National Archives who hold military service records. It takes up to six months for a response.
They had a roster of all who served on this ship, and we can eliminate this ship since we didn’t find his name.
Next we went to the antebellum plantation called Oakleigh House for a tour given by a Mobile belle. I didn’t know what they were. When we arrived, we saw three high school age girls sitting on what appeared to be bean bags looking at their phones. Actually, they were wearing large hoop skirts.
Oakleigh means oak meadow and the ceilings are painted in haint blue. It is supposed to keep bad spirits and /or bugs away and originated from the use of indigo.
The Battle of Mobile Bay was the largest naval battle in the civil war.
The Ku Klux Klan was organized in 1866 which occurred right after the end of the civil war. The Civil Rights Act of 1875 guaranteed all citizens, regardless of color, access to accommodations, theatres, public schools, churches, and cemeteries. What happened? There was no enforcement. We have seen time and again where they will always find a way to work around any law.
Food Tour
One can learn much about a place through foods. Downtown Mobile had a walking tour to learn the history of the city one bite at a time. Fried green tomatoes and buttermilk biscuits with sugar cane butter was a hit. Other offerings were beignets, BBQ, oysters, pralines, and especially Southern sweet tea.
Praline is actually the name of the man who it is named after.
The Legacy Museum
The Legacy Museum was an amazing, honest presentation about slavery that is funded by the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) and focuses on slavery, lynching, segregation, and mass incarceration.
Slavery: When we walked into the museum, it seemed like we were on a boat tossed about at sea. Many of the captives were poorly held and fed. As many as one third of the captives died and were thrown overboard. We were told that sharks followed the ships for an easy meal. We often think that their misery started when they arrived and were forced into slavery. It started long before that when they were first kidnapped from their African homes. It went from bad to bad.
A large plantation had over 50 slaves of which there were 232 in Alabama. A very large plantation had over 172 slaves.
While slavery in America increased three fold in numbers from 1810 to 1860, Alabama saw a ten-fold increase.
Cotton picking was sooo difficult. Leaning over was the worse part, then hands that would encounter sharp stickers, and then oppressive heat.
An adult was expected to pick 130 pounds a day. A child was expected to pick 80. If a slave didn’t meet this quota, they were whipped; if a slave met his quota, the amount was increased the next day. Standing up was only allowed at the end of the row.
We, Americans, don’t think about the effects the TransAtlantic Slave trade had on Africa. Mostly, men were taken. The African continent was left destabilized and vulnerable to conquest and violence for centuries. It left a void in Africa that likely led to colonialism by European nations. They lament their lost generations.
Lynching: Hanging is different than lynching. Hanging is a legal method of execution carried out by authorities. Lynching is an act of extrajudicial violence carried out by a mob or group of individuals without legal authority. Lynching is a form of racial terrorism. Lynchings were often meant to send a message to the community not to violate laws of racial hierarchy.
Segregation:
Mass Incarceration: Segregationists always find a way to work around equality laws. Convict leasing is sometimes referred to as secondary slavery. Labor is needed and with little or no cost, one can have a chain gang do the work. When more workers are needed, more people, most often black people, are put in jail for minor infractions to build up this labor pool.
At this point, we’d had enough! What is the matter with humans!!
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