Tuesday, July 3, 2018
Because breakfast did not come with our hotel, Courtyard by Marriott, YELP directed us to a little place called Mugs Café. They offered drip coffee that you could buy by the cup or unlimited refills. That in itself was different, but when I saw how they produced their coffee it was more understandable. It takes a long time for a single cup of coffee to be processed. Mugs is a neighborhood joint and was patronized by a wide variety of people, including a bike club of about 20 people our age.
After breakfast we headed to the Clinton Presidential Library and Archive. On our way we drove through Little Rock and made a brief stop at the State Capitol building. The Presidential Library is in a beautiful modern building that is located close to the downtown area and is near the Arkansas River. The building was dedicated in September 2011. After watching the orientation video, we took a tour with a very knowledgeable docent. As expected the place is huge and it was nice having someone point out the highlights of our 42nd President’s accomplishments. It would have been impossible to read everything in every exhibit. Just like the Reagan Presidential Library, there was a re-creation of the oval office, which is always decorated by the current president. There was even mention of the impeachment so that fact wasn’t glossed over. I tried not to think of what a Trump Presidential Library would look like and imagined the walls filled with ‘tweet quotes’.
We spent several hours at the Library and enjoyed a lovely lunch at the restaurant in the building called 42 Bar and Table. More time could have been spent at the Library, but we wanted to leave enough time to visit Central High School. The High School building itself is massive, and it is still used as the community’s high school. The Supreme Court handed down its 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Education stating that segregated schools denied students “equal protection of the laws” under the Constitution’s 14th Amendment. On September 4, 1957 nine African American teens tried to enter Central High but were blocked by the Arkansas National Guard. Governor Faubus cried that “states ‘rights” were being violated and had called out the Guard. President Eisenhower had no choice but to back the Supreme Court decision and used 1,100 federal troops to enforce the civil rights of the nine kids. The bravery of the students, as well as their parents, cannot be understated. It was a violent time and angry crowds beat both black and white journalists. There is a lot more to the story, but that would turn this blog into a history lesson.
Visitors are not allowed to enter Central High, but there was a very informative visitor center across the street from the school. Unfortunately, we didn’t get a chance to fully explore that museum because it was closing early for the 4th of July holiday. On another corner across from the school is a gas station that has been preserved in its original state. The pay phones at the station were used by reporters to tell the world what was happening in Little Rock.
After all we had seen it was actually therapeutic to get in the car and drive in silence to our next destination, Memphis, TN. Instead of going directly to the house of my cousins Susan and Skip Rossen, we went to the beautiful new home of Greg and Melody Usdan and their two adorable sons. Greg is the son of Kay, Skip’s sister who tragically passed away unexpectedly about a year ago. Skip and Susan had brought in barbecue from a local restaurant that was quite wonderful. But it was more wonderful reconnecting with family I hadn’t seen in many years. After eating and a quick house tour, we headed back to the Rossen’s lovely home.
BY THE WAY WITH WENDY & DAN 