ontgomery greeted us with a billboard that evoked such a burst of bitter laughter that Nikki thought she should record it for me in my journal. She wrote:
"Billboard on the way to Montgomery says, 'Visit the King Memorial and the Confederate White House.' "
And in case the act of pointing out that irony did not adequately convey her distaste, she added this:
"They ought to be shot for that."
We stopped at the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, which looks over its right shoulder at Alabama's state capitol, and I understood anew the courage it must have taken for a movement to begin so close to the steps where Gov. George Wallace declared, "Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever."
We walked to the Civil Rights Memorial around the corner. Into its curved black granite wall, alive with an eternal cascade of cool water, is carved a part of one of King's favorite Bible-inspired verses: We will not be satisfied, he would say, "... UNTIL JUSTICE ROLLS DOWN LIKE WATERS AND RIGHTEOUSNESS LIKE A MIGHTY STREAM."

Keith traced the letters with his finger, allowing the water to splash over his hand and sprinkle his shorts. Nikki and I lingered at the round, flat, waist-high Memorial with water pulsing from its center and spilling over the edges. The Memorial contains the critical dates and events of civil rights history, along with the names of people murdered in the struggle.
Two blocks down Washington Avenue was the first Confederate White House. We didn't go there.
As we prepared to leave for Selma, we went in search of the marker where Rosa Parks boarded the city bus and set into motion the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the timeless lesson in community organizing that would sweep Martin Luther King Jr. into the current of civil disobedience and carry him to his death in Memphis 13 years later.
Twice I drove down Montgomery Street near the Davis Theater looking for this place in history, but I could only find a marker honoring country singer Hank Williams.
On a hunch, I parked and we took a closer look.
Rosa Parks' story was on the back.

NEXT STOP:
Selma, a bridge to yesterday.
Beyond a humpbacked bridge lies the mile-long city of Selma, where history books and memories mingle to reveal truths about race relations past and present.