Alternate Assignment

One of the issues that the museum creators dealt with was that other politicians were against the creation of the museum. They thought that it would cause division, and that the money would be better utilized by rebuilding schools.The founders of the museum hoped to create a memorial to the civil rights movement in Birmingham similar to the museums for the Holocaust and Diaspora. The 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, AL, achieved the status of a national historic landmark in in 2006 because of its historic value to the American civil rights movement. I watched the film Four Little Girls, which was an effective documentary. It did a good job of telling the story and setting the stage with the photographs of the girls before the bombing. This made it easy to imagine them walking unsuspectingly into the room for choir practice on that fateful day. It is an important instance of violence in Birmingham that was so atrocious due to the potential and innocence of the victims that it caught the attention of the nation at large and brought about change.

Civil Rights Act of 1964

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 "outlaws discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin." (Wikipedia). These behaviors no longer take place legally in the United States of America, and illegal instances are few and far between. This is likely because of the improvement in American morality seen over the years as well as the forced altruism of capitalism. Media should be used to shine a light on injustice wherever it may be found, and existing laws should be enforced. I enjoyed the movie that we watched in class today. It was put together very cleanly, and their mix of modern and archival footage properly delivered a powerful story. Dr. King and President Kennedy were both very engaging speakers.