Civil Rights Tour Day Two - The King Center

I began the second day of the Civil Rights Tour with a sunrise power walk outside the Hampton Inn in Atlanta. Later this morning, the tour group visited the Martin Luther King  Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change.

To get myself in the spirit, I listened to motivational music during my power walk, from Public Enemy's "Fight the Power" to Sheila E.'s "Save the People."

At the King Center, I sat through a half-hour documentary on King's life and work. Although I'm familiar with many of these facts, it reinforced my appreciation of the brave sacrifices that he and thousands of other activists made to bring about the freedoms that I take for granted.

I sat in the front row of the Ebenezer Baptist Church, which reminds me of many of the churches I attended and visited with my family as a kid.

Walking across the front porch of Dr. King's birth home and seeing his personal items, including his room key to the Lorraine Motel in Memphis where he was assassinated, really helped me see that this looming historical figure was a real person like me. 

Next stop: the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, which we're on our way to this afternoon.