Washington’s birthday–a virtual tour of Mt. Vernon

by Jamie Rhein on

Earlier this week I headed to Mt. Vernon. Not physically, but via Mt. Vernon’s Web site. I see lots and lots and lots of Web sites. Web site hopping is a great way to pass writing time. Mt. Vernon’s Web site is the Rolls Royce of sites. There is so much material that it’s easy to get lost in the wandering.

Details range from the reconstruction of a slave cabin to how to make Martha Washington’s Great Cake to every detail about George Washington’s house and gardens and his life, including before and after his presidency. In each section there are links that lead to more details. For example, when you go to the house and garden link there are other links to specific buildings. Each building has other links to more information. If you head to the Virtual Mansion Tour, you’ll find links to specific rooms in the main house. Each room of the house has more links. In the Large Dining Room, you can find out about the molding, the artwork, the furniture and the room’s purpose.

If you can’t make it to Mt. Vernon in person, spend some time at the Web site and you’ll think that you spent a week there. Besides that, you’ll know more about 17th and 18th century life in the U.S. than most people do. Did you know the Great Cake takes 40 eggs? I do now.

Each month there are special events. For Black History Month programs center around the contributions of the slaves who lived at Mt. Vernon and the lives they led. Here’s the page that details the history of slavery where George Washington was concerned.

World Heritage Site new “Tentative List”: Places to Love: Civil Rights Movement Sites

by Jamie Rhein on

For the Gadling series “World Heritage Site new “Tentative List”: Places to Love” we are covering the 14 sites that have been submitted for possible inclusion as an official World Heritage Site in the United States. The sites will not be posted in order of importance or in the order they appear on the list.

Number 1

Name of site: Civil Rights Movement Sites

Location: Birmingham and Montgomery, Alabama.

Reason for importance (in a nutshell): Three churches, Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church in Montgomery and the Bethel Baptist and 16th Street Baptist Churches in Birmingham, all historically African-American, played significant roles during the Civil Rights Movement.

Jamie’s Take: Of all the places on the new Tentative Sites list, these are perhaps the most humble and each hold enormous significance to American history. During Black History month, this is a fitting time to pay tribute. Here’s why:

Picture Martin Luther King Jr. standing at the simple pulpit of what was then called Dexter Avenue Baptist Church. From 1954 to1960, he was the pastor of this church, preaching his message that pulled people into a movement that changed history. The Montgomery Bus Boycott was organized from here. The church today looks similar to what it did back then–even the pulpit is still there.

In Birmingham on September 15, 1963, a bomb exploded at the 16th Street Baptist Church. Hatred killed four girls while they were putting on their choir robes. Members of the Klu Klux Klan were responsible. The bombing played a large role in the passage of the Civil Rights Act. The church, in the heart of the Civil Rights District of Birmingham, still operates as a church today. In 1873, when it was founded, it was the first African American church to in Birmingham.

From 1956-1961, the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights (ACMHR) was headquartered at the Bethel Baptist Church. The early Civil Rights movement efforts were organized here, including the Freedom Ride bus trip that helped lead to the desegregation of bus transportation. This church was bombed several times and is now a National Historic Landmark.

Langston Hughes: Poetry inspired by travel

by Jamie Rhein on

When Langston Hughes’s dad moved to Mexico when Langston was a child, he created the path to the poem, “The Negro Speaks of Rivers.” In 1920, while crossing the Mississipi River on a train on his way to Mexico to visit his dad, Langston was inspired to write the poem on the back of a letter. He had just finished high school.

In honor of Black History month, the inspiration gathered from world travel and Langston Hughes, whose poetry still inspires, here’s a short video of him talking about this trip and writing the poem. Plus, he reads it at the end. See what images of your own trips are conjured up. This is a lesson in always having a scrap of paper and a pen or a pencil with you when you travel.

Gullah Celebration–Black History Month

by Jamie Rhein on

February is Black History month. In Hilton Head, South Carolina, a facinating part of African American history (thus American history) is celebrated throughout this month. Similar to Native Americans who have continued to celebrate and live according to the traditions of their ancestors, the Gullahs in South Carolina and Georgia have continued to embrace the cultures and beliefs of their ancestors who were brought as slaves to Georgia and South Carolina from West Africa.

Each February, at the annual Gullah Celebration, Hilton Head Island, where many Gullahs still live, is a showcase of Gullah art, food, music, language and history. Visitors can head to art shows, concerts, and other performances to enjoy the rich variety of the traditions that have been kept alive for centuries–including the language. Prayers, story-telling and sermons are told in Gullah, a mix of English and African languages, that was developed by slaves as a means to communicate with each other. Today, the language functions as a way to embrace the past, as well as, influence the future.

If you head here, check out the schedule to see what’s going on each day. No matter which day or days you come, take in a variety of historical landmarks. Of note is Mitchelville, the first freed Negro township. The store De Gullah Creations, open year round, is a place to purchase Gullah art and crafts and learn more about the culture.

30 years after Alex Haley’s Roots, Juffureh is still a travel destination

by Jamie Rhein on

It’s been 30 years since Alex Haley’s Roots became a cultural touchstone in the United States. For those of you too young to remember, this book chronicles the life of Haley’s ancestor Kunta Kenteh who was captured in The Gambia and sold into slavery. The book was a blockbuster and the TV miniseries made LaVar Burton a known actor. Nowadays, many know Burton as Lt. Geordi LaForge from the Star Trek TV series and Roots has moved out of the radar of popular culture.

The recent NPR story about the 30th year anniversary got me thinking about Juffureh, the Gambian town where Kunta Kinteh lived. When Roots came out, Juffureh was put on the map as a tourist place to visit. Haley’s distant relatives spoke to those who came to this small village for a look-see in combination with a visit to nearby James Island where Africans were herded onto ships for the grim journey across the Atlantic.

Several years after Roots influenced American consciousness, I headed to The Gambia myself as a Peace Corps Volunteer. I never made it to Juffreh for whatever reason, probably because, on free weekends, I visited volunteers who were posted in other towns. Juffureh, however is still a tourist destination. Gambia Tours and Travel Ltd. offers a day trip to Juffureh where visitors travel up the Gambia River for the tour that looks like something I would really like to take. Haley’s relatives still talk with visitors. It would be interesting to see how the last 30 years have impacted them.

I have been to Goree Island off the coast of Dakar, Senegal which was also a large slave trading port. Goree Island is a stunning contrast to what humans can do-lovely architecture with a Portuguese influence on one hand– and utter cruelty and devastation on the other. What I like about these tours is that they show both.