But I just returned from a trip to Anniston to visit family, and came away with some thoughts I wanted to share. The first set of thoughts relate to a newsletter my father wrote from Thailand back on May 22, 1961, intended for folks in churches all across Alabama and other parts of the south.
The date was one week after folks in Anniston fire-bombed a Greyhound bus full of Freedom Riders. Most of the newsletter relayed information about the missionary work being done in Chacheungao province in eastern Thailand, where my parents had gone to serve in 1958. I was 15 months old when we arrived in Thailand that October.
In the "P.S." section of the newsletter, my father typed out the following plea:
"For about a week now the headlines in our newspaper, The Bangkok World, have been telling the tragic news of race riots, cruelty, and violence in Anniston, Montgomery, and Birmingham. When the questions come, from the Thai and Chinese people, we have to explain that not all Alabamians are Christians, nor do they have the love for God and their fellow-men that they should have. Our consolation (as weak as it is) is that you are also as troubled and disturbed by such unchristian behavior and lack of brotherly love as we are. We join with you in praying that people may turn to God and have a new-birth which will cause them to love one another. You please pray with us that these headlines and news stories (being read all over the world) will not hinder the cause of Christ and His Kingdom's progress over here."
I can tell you that I wept when I read these powerful words written by my father more than 50 years ago. I have no doubt that they were meant to be a powerful rebuke from 12,000 miles away, and I can only hope they had the intended effect.
One year later my family returned to Eulaton, Alabama for a one-year furlough. Our house was about one mile from where the Greyhound bus was torched by folks on that 1961 Mother's Day. As a kindergartner, I didn't know about these events, and only became interested in them in any real way after watching Spike Lee's film, "4 Little Girls," about five years ago.
I was struck when I watched the film by how young everyone seemed all these years later. Then I realized the startling truth: It didn't happen all that many years ago. That's when I decided to start digging into my Anniston history, instead of just my Thailand history.
When I was back in Anniston this last time, I was at a local glass store that I thought to be in the building that once housed the Greyhound Bus depot. The man said no, it was just down the street about a block. The man, who was white, encouraged me to go down the street to look at the mural of the bus painted on the wall on the alley way that was once where the buses exited the depot area. He acknowledged that it was a difficult history for Anniston, but seemed pleased that it was recorded in this public, artistic way.
I was impressed with the quality of the presentation, which included a number of information panels that depicted a photo/text history of that day in May, 1961 that my father later wrote about from Chacheungsao, Thailand.
A couple blocks over, a similar depiction of the Trainways bus was visible at the location of the former Trainways Bus depot. That bus was the one attacked after it arrived in Birmingham later that afternoon on May 14, 1961.
For more on the fateful day in May, 1961, read the Anniston Star's anniversary coverage from May 11, 2011. You also can read more about the two bus murals.
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