Alabama?! Why not a nice beachside hotel or an Orlando resort? People were puzzled. Why had I chosen the civil rights sites in Alabama as the destination for the annual retreat of the ADR Section of The Florida Bar? My explanation came from the heart: voluntary bar organizations can and should do more to offer members deeper shared experiences that teach, inspire, connect and renew. So, in September, fifteen of us set out on a four-day trip to Montgomery, Birmingham, and Selma.
Day 1, Montgomery. Our trip began at Dexter King Memorial Church, where Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. served as pastor from 1954 to 1960. Our guide was the Hon. Vanzetta Penn McPherson,[1] a retired federal magistrate judge and a member of the congregation. Judge McPherson wove her own story as a child in Montgomery with deep love of her church and her knowledge and passion for the law into an unforgettable experience.
Day 2, Birmingham. We walked through Kelly Ingram Park, where in 1963, marchers—including the young marchers of the Children’s Crusade—were attacked by police with tear gas, dogs, and water cannons. Our tour of the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute (BCRI) provided a history lesson on national and local events. Over a delicious BBQ lunch, our historian-guide, Mr. Charles Woods III, facilitated a thought-provoking discussion about the difference between being “non-racist” and “anti-racist.”[2] Our day concluded with a tour of the 16th Street Baptist Church. Its 1963 bombing killed four little girls, and the horrified response helped drive the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Three members of the Ku Klux Klan were convicted, but justice took years; one man was found guilty of the bombing in 1977 and two more were convicted in 2001.[3]
Day 3, Selma. Together, we walked across the Edmund Pettus Bridge, the launch point for the five-day Selma to Montgomery march and site of Bloody Sunday, March 7, 1965, where marchers were attacked by police and firefighters with water cannons and dogs. Next year will mark the 60th anniversary[4] of this pivotal event.
That afternoon, we visited the Equal Justice Initiative’s (EJI) “Legacy Sites,”[5] an incredible, internationally recognized museum complex consisting of the Legacy Museum, the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, and the Freedom Monument Sculpture Park. The Legacy Sites connect the terror and injustice of slavery, lynching, segregation, and mass incarceration, with a powerful belief that reconciliation and healing require truth and justice. “[The Legacy Sites are] a must see for any lawyer who believes in the rule of law and the promises in our Constitution,” said Ret. Judge Lester Langer. The most powerful elements of the Legacy Sites highlight the moments where the promises of the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments of the Constitution were not upheld. Included in the Memorial were the names of two men lynched in Palm Beach County: Henry Simmons (June 7, 1923) and Samuel Nelson (September 26, 1926),[6] along with jars of soil from the sites here in our county where they were murdered.
On our final morning in Montgomery, we had the privilege of viewing the city through the eyes of Wanda Battle. Now 68 years old, Ms. Battle grew up in West Montgomery and was a child during the civil rights era. Among her neighbors were Rosa Parks, the local NAACP’s Secretary and seamstress whose arrest in 1955 inspired the organization of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which catapulted the 26-year-old Dr. King into leadership, lasted 381 days and involved around 40,000 members of the community. Ms. Battle also shared her personal history of “the aftermath” when her family was displaced in the 1970s by urban renewal, their home purchased for $3,500 and destroyed by the construction of a highway routed through West Montgomery. With a deep generosity of spirit, she guided us through a conversation about how we each experience segregation in our own lives, and when we connected with people beyond our own community.
Travel can be transformative, and plant seeds that grow for the rest of our lives. Ashlee Pouncy, who travelled with her mother, said “[T]here is no comparison to standing in the place where history was made[. …] This trip was more than a retreat, it was a lesson in finding a way forward, even when it seems impossible – a valuable lesson for all ADR professionals.”
The ADR Section plans to organize this trip on an annual basis. It will be open to any member of the Bar who wishes to participate.
Ana Cristina Maldonado is the 2024-2025 Chair of the ADR Section of The Florida Bar. A full time neutral for 13 years, she is currently Associate Professor at Nova Southeastern University’s Shepard Broad College of Law.
[1] https://www.almd.uscourts.gov/oral-histories-profiles/judge-vanzetta-penn-mcpherson
[2] A non-racist believes in the equality and rights of all races but looks away when injustices occur, or derogatory language is used against blacks or non-whites. An anti-racist calls out that behavior and seeks to change it. Woods challenged us to be anti-racist and to speak out.
[3] A 2017 panel with the attorneys who prosecuted the 16th Street Church bombing is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiGf1RCvguw
[4] https://www.selmajubilee.com/
[5] https://legacysites.eji.org/