Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/61584
WONDERFUL WINTER GETAWAYS The old bromide "The grass is always greener on the other side…" is never truer than when the winter blahs set in. If you are strug- gling to survive a bone-chilling winter back home, chances are you are day- dreaming about lounging on the beach in some far off tropical island, umbrella drink in hand and palm trees swaying gently overhead. And while you are longing for relief from the bitter cold, you can bet someone somewhere is complaining about the stifling heat and wishing they could snap on the skis and hit the slopes in search of a brief respite from rising temperatures. So Black Meetings & Tourism is offer- BY SOLOMON J. HERBERT Boat at Anchor, Barbados I f diversity were a place, it would be Birmingham. People who visit here get a taste of that variety — in BIRMINGHAM, AL entertainment, cuisine, the arts, nightlife, the great outdoors—that brings them back time and again. The city is perhaps best known for its prominent role in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, and boasts a wealth of Black history and culture in its many attractions and historic point of interest. The three most prominent of these are the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute and Kelly Ingram Park. The Sixteenth Street Baptist Church often served as a meeting and rallying place for leaders and participants in the Movement. On a Sunday morning September 15, 1963, Ku Klux Klansmen bombed the church, killing four little girls preparing for morning worship. Today, the church is thriving and con- tinues its historic role as an open-door church welcoming visitors, cultural, education and civic activities. The Birmingham Civil Rights Institute is a "living institution" which views the lessons of the past as a posi- tive way to chart new direction for the future. Through film clips, and a series of galleries, the institute contrasts the lives of blacks and whites from the late 1800s to the present. 32 Black Meetings & Tourism March/April 2012: www.blackmeetingsandtourism.com ing a half dozen winter getaway possibil- ities, three for folks looking for fun in the sun, and three for travelers yearning for that perfect cold weather retreat. Birmingham Civil Rights Institute Exhibit Statue of Martin Luther King, over looking 16th Street Baptist Church Vulcan Statue, Birmingham Photo Credit: Jeffrey Greenberg