Atlanta to Tuscaloosa via Amtrak

Jarvis Harris and Joe Foss are telling local audiences about their five-week, 4,600-mile tour of Black historical sites across the United States last fall.  For additional insights into their journey and anti-racist work, please visit their website, AcceptingOthers.com. 

Our journey from Atlanta to Tuscaloosa, Alabama, took just five hours, all in the daytime.

Joe:  Words cannot fully capture the overall fun and joy we have been experiencing on this journey thus far. God continued to bless our socks off with meeting interesting folks each day. Seeing so much great Black history gave us a more complete understanding of American History.

As we head to Tuscaloosa on Amtrak we were excited to meet up with Jarvis’ friend Pierre and take our journey to the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) Legacy Sites in Montgomery where we expected to spend a couple of days, as it is an easy drive from Tuscaloosa. We rented a car to drive to Montgomery and finally to Memphis after our stay in Tuscaloosa.

Jarvis: As excited as we’ve been for this trip, I was thinking, “We’re about to go to Alabama!” These states are the heartbeat of racial issues, divisiveness, battles — you name it! I’ve been a fan of the Equal Justice Initiative, EJI for a few years now. They have 3 separate sites to see right there in Montgomery, Alabama.  I also have a close military friend, Pierre, whom I hadn't seen since 1986.  Yeah, I got some birthdays under my belt. That just added more to the excitement of my visit.

It’s like you instinctively know to be aware of where you are in certain states. It’s crazy cause I don't think we should still feel this way. Couldn’t help but think of all the ancestors that suffered in these areas of our country as we drove around during our stay. The nostalgia of driving down two-lane roads knowing that in the past, these roads could be perilous and even deadly for Blacks.

Joe: After arriving in Tuscaloosa, Pierre picked us up, and we went to rent a car to get around without interfering with Pierre’s schedule.

Since Tuscaloosa is the home of the Alabama Crimson Tide, Pierre mentioned that it was game day on Saturday and lodging could be quite expensive.

Wow that was an understatement as our hotel for Wednesday and Thursday night was $80 per night, but went up to a whopping $539 per night for Friday and Saturday nights.

That is demand pricing for you and apparently football fans pay that, but we decided to only stay the first two nights and Pierre and his wife, Anna, invited us to stay at their home for Friday and Saturday. I found it interesting that Tuscaloosa's population is about 110,000 and the football stadium holds just over 100,000.

From enslavement to mass incarceration

Jarvis:  The Equal Justice Initiative was on the same level as the National Museum of African American History in D.C. It’s extensive and well thought out.

It captures the traumatic capture of slaves in Africa and their long and miserable transport in suffocating slave ships. And then the savage and inhumane treatment of their new lives.

It ends up with Blacks still being incarcerated at atrocious levels and numbers. In the lobby of the main exhibit is a statement, “From Enslavement to Mass Incarceration.”

Joe: I felt that these Legacy Sites each offered very high-quality presentations, like the Smithsonian in D.C., but they seemed more focused and dynamic in how they depicted the Black slave experience.

The first entry into the museum uses video and sounds of the ocean on all four walls surrounding you, which sets the stage for you to feel immersed in an experience that the captured Black slaves may have felt during the middle passage.

Throughout these three different sites they did a very creative job of transporting you to the feelings that particular site was highlighting and teaching you about.

Honestly, even if you didn’t read much of the displayed pieces, their creative techniques they used throughout spoke for themselves. Please go to their website to experience some of what we described here.

Jarvis Harris, of Lacey, is a retired U.S. Army veteran and former Pierce County corrections officer who now dedicates his time to personal passions and volunteering. Born and raised in Philadelphia, he settled in Lacey during his Army service.

Joe Foss, of Tacoma, is a Navy veteran and retired business owner who has been actively engaged in projects addressing racism in America since 2012.