The 52 Places Traveler: In Montgomery, a City Embedded With Pain, Finding Progress

I was in Montgomery once, for about 36 hours, some 30 years ago. All I remember is how hot and humid it was there, probably the worst heat and humidity I ever have experienced in the US. Much, much worse than New Orleans, where I grew up and was living at the time.

I think some of you are being harsh here and possibly not understanding Jada's assignment. She is visiting all the places on the NYTimes' "52 places to go" list for 2018, over the course of 2018. That means of necessity a whistle-stop tour in each of them - much as is the case for most tourists and business travelers. First impressions are inherently going to be different from those of residents and frequent visitors - and though there may be the occasional error (seems like she was misinformed about Old Cloverdale by her guide), a good writer can make sense of those impressions to share for others. I have been to Montgomery a couple of times in recent years and been cautiously impressed. It seems that the city is trying hard to reconcile its conflicted past. There are markers, statues and memorials for people both good and bad - perhaps a sense that rather than tear down the old statues, that new ones can go up to contrast them, or the old ones be identified in a more modern context. I wouldn't pretend this is easy. (I'd prefer we didn't put up statues in the first place, but that's maybe a subject for elsewhere.) My own impressions of Montgomery's social scene was that it is much more racially integrated than outsiders might want to imagine, both in terms of the work force and the customers. I found that very encouraging. And one of my visits included a Sunday in summer, when the place was reasonably active. I hope to be back.

This is just so typical of the echo chamber journalism we see from the NYT today. She arrives in the city so stuffed with preconceived notions that she can't see what is directly in front of her. My particular favorite piece of absurdity has to with Old Cloverdale, the neighborhood in which I live. It is a wonderfully eclectic and artistic neighborhood with a diverse mix of the very wealthy, middle class, college students, artists, and people in the service industry who choose to live close to the restaurants and bars in which they work. I just wonder whether many of my friends and neighbors will be more surprised to learn that they are "old money" or by that fact that they aren't black.

Would have liked to see more about the things to see and do -- those parts of the article seemed very rushed. Also, how does one park a car "akimbo?" (unless the person was somehow driving with his/her hands on his/her hips).

Great piece. I visited Birmingham last year, with apprehension and curiosity, and totally fell in love with the city, the food, the history, and the people. This definitely makes me want to check out Montgomery on my next visit.

Interesting article, thank you, you covered a lot in a short visit. I don't know Montgomery well, but from years ago I remember a busy state capitol, lots of people and cars on the streets, stores open. After several decades I found myself there again, only for a day and overnight. It was a weekend and I walked around downtown; from one street I could see the capitol and almost every store leading up to it was closed. As in boarded up. Had some excellent food at the revitalized river front, but the true gem was the Rosa Parks Museum. Well done, moving in its feeling of immediacy of those turbulent days, and left me feeling like I was more than I was before I went in; I was informed. Some recent events bode well, I hope, for Alabama: The departure of Jeffrey Beauregard Sessions and the election of Senator Doug Jones have both vastly improved the state.

I lived in Montgomery during the 1950s. I’ve been back a few times since. Just like most of Alabama and the rest of the South, under the skin nothing has changed. Don’t go there.

A Must Entry for anyone’s Top 10 list of Cities “Not Yet Ready for ‘Top 52’ Places to Go’” list. Still too easy to see/feel/know the persistence of the region’s culturally racist infection.

Since I'm currently looking for a home in Montgomery (from NYC!), I can tell you that Old Cloverdale and Cloverdale are integrated. Beautiful homes, low taxes, great prices! Probably buying in the Hillwood section, though.

After rereading this column, my major criticism (besides the inaccurate representation of Cloverdale, as others have pointed out below) is the fact that she rather fell into the way too common trap of believing that Montgomery's important history starts with the slave trade/civil war and then skips straight to the 1950's and the civil rights movement. (And, even if you only focus on that issue, it's not an accurate portrayal. For example, there was a boycott of Montgomery's electric streetcar system, which was the first in the U.S., in 1900-1902.) I know it's impossible to see and do everything in 4 days, but I hope others who might be inspired to come down will *also* visit Ft. Toulouse-Ft. Jackson and learn about the Creek Indians and the history of European settlement in the region, or Old Alabama Town, or investigate the city's rich centuries-old Jewish culture (for example, Lehman Brothers was actually founded here in 1850), or even take advantage of our more modern offerings like the renowned Alabama Shakespeare Festival. Y'all all are welcome here!

Such an interesting article! I don't like the history of the city, but now I want to go there and see how it is changing for the better. The restaurants sound so good! The author really covered a lot in the brief time she had there.

I too grew up in Montgomery, graduated from Lanier...and got out quickly! But I am proud of how Montgomery has grown. It is a more integrated society than the fancy liberal cities of Massachusetts. The R

I grew up in Montgomery and could not get out fast enough. But I was wrong and am very proud of my Alabama home. It is a more integrated society than the fancy "liberal" suburbs around Boston....and I applaud the NY Times article. Call Betty's Elegance for the best taxi service ever, and Betty will give you the most fun tour. Visit the Rosa Parks Museum. Eat fried chicken at Martins, and then go to the Shakespeare Festival Park and Museum. You will think you have died and gone to heaven...an integrated heaven that you will not see in the North!

No mention of Alabama Shakespeare festival? The Art museum? The art movie theatre in Cloverdale? The Jewish community with two thriving synagogues? Of Huntington college? When John Updike visited the demand was so great they had to move the venue twice. Lived in Montgomery for four years. Seems like she saw what she expected to see and didn’t care to look deeper.

Best of lists are always problematic, especially when you try to rank them in order. But I started feeling uncomfortable when the author said Montgomery is her 3rd stop out of 52, but feels it should be ranked higher than 49th. In the interest of objectivity, shouldn't her own order come only after she's visited all 52? I'll just assume editors aren't assisting here. Reading about dining at Applebee's instead of a recommended restaurant unique to the city she's reviewing didn't do anything for me either. If her new friend couldn't afford the "upscale Southern food restaurant" he could have suggested an authentic downscale place instead. That's even more unforgiveable than hanging out at a Starbuck's for a couple hours instead of a local coffee house. Applebee's? What's next, McDonald's instead of a dive bar known for its tasty fries?

I lived in Montgomery for almost 3 years (‘68-‘70) and have revisited lifelong friends I found there. Ms. Yuan’s well-written piece shows what a daunting task this NYT project will be. A Montgomery example: the city’s entrenched xenophobia is a profound barrier to any outsider who seeks to penetrate the complexity of local race relations. Remember, when George Wallace asked forgiveness for his racist career black Alabamians publicly chose to accept his apology. (!!??) Another: Attempts to characterize Montgomery as “poor” or “wealthy” vastly oversimplify. It is a bastion of wealthy aristocracy AND a clear example of serious underclass poverty.

Georgia was the national leader in lynchings, to bad they haven't graced their own unholy past. I add that lynchings were not just in the "south and midwest" as the author writes, in fact, they took place in every state except Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island.

This past fall I spent time in Alabama canvassing for Doug Jones, mostly in African-American neighborhoods. Being from out of town I was always paired with a local. One older gentleman, an Army vet, told me "the Klan traded their hoods for suits and badges." Neighborhoods are very segregated, and schools in minority neighborhoods are neglected. Church is important -- the warmest, kindest people I met were members of the 16th Street Baptist Church. I do sense that Alabama is changing for the better. Doug Jones is a wise, honest public servant, and I hope to see him rise to a position of national leadership. One of his "kitchen table" objectives is to raise Alabama's achievement in education, especially for the neglected poor. So, Roll Tide! We are pulling for you!

Life is too short and the world full of beautiful places to go back in time to this terrible, racist city.

I was visiting Atlanta and bored so decided to take a drive down to Montgomery. However it didn't even occur to me that it was a Sunday and nothing would be open. I am from NYC where everything is open all of the time. We got there around 11am and not a soul on the streets. It was so eerie. We passed lots of churches and the parking lots were full of cars so we knew that is where everyone was. I was disappointed I wasn't able to visit anything, but my fault for choosing to visit a small southern town on a Sunday.

It seems worth noting that perhaps the woman interviewed about Marion Sims should conduct some independent research about the type of procedures he conducted before getting herself so worked up. It is important to evaluate the procedures he pioneered and the methods he used along with the historical backdrop. I suggest anyone who is curious about the ethics of his work to do a little outside reading rather than just hearing "experiments on slave women" and immediately recoiling. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2563360/

Wow, this seems like incredibly bad planning. According to the NY Times itself, Montgomery is on the list of places to visit for one reason: the memorial to lynching victims that the Equal Justice Initiative is building. It is scheduled to open April 26 of this year. Why not visit Montgomery once the memorial is open? Why not go to Oregon or Buffalo or any of the other 52 destinations first and then visit Montgomery after April? Had Ms. Yuan visited the memorial, or learned about why it is being built, she hopefully would have realized that it is not "a companion piece" to the Southern Poverty Law Center's civil rights memorial. No, no, no, no. I guess the author's misunderstanding should not be surprising given that dropping into a city (for what, two days?) is about the worst way to learn what is actually going on. And for anyone who is reading these comments and plans to visit Montgomery, don't go to Aviator, which is a tourist trap with no character. Kru is by far the best bar in Montgomery.

Interesting read. Sure, there is a lot more to the city than its history (and a lot better culinary choices). But Yuan gets at what is fascinating. A true outsider, she marvels at the contradictions, ever present and within a stone's throw of one another. The same ones many long-timers around here deliberately avoid. But those folks are shrinking, if not taken flight. This place - not New York - was the spearhead of the economic and social forces that split the world in two 160 years ago. That pedigree is what may help this city lead the world again, but back together.

Intriguing writing by Jada Yuan. A dozen years ago I was in Montgomery for a graduation of a relative who had attended the Air Force school there. Desperate for a good restaurant, I found one. Having traveled up from New Orleans, I was concerned about what food I'd get in Montgomery. It turned out that the commanding officer was also dining there that night, although it had no influence on my relative's graduation; he had already made it through to his commission. I thought that it wasn't a chance meeting due to a lack of good dining choices in Montgomery, but Jada's article dispels that notion. It looks like there is a notion of progress in Montgomery, with some steps backward such as with Roy Moore. The deep past is racism, and it engenders some warm feelings in some of the residents. We don't want to eradicate history, otherwise we'll end up suffering its consequences. We want to understand it so that we can progress. It is the question, "What is history?" We want a city to have a culture, but it needs to be a vibrant, inclusive culture. All this complexity seems to come to the surface in Jada's excellent article abut Montgomery. I think that she brings up the idea in her visit to Montgomery that a great city attempts to provide well being to all of its residents and visitors. And it recognizes its past.

Really enjoying these dispatches and Ms. Yuan's fresh take on places I thought I knew. Looking forward to the rest of her journey.

So, is it that unusual that people would be in church on Sundays? Oh, those Southerners. They're so quaint they even go to church! Great read, though, in spite of the editorializing.

Is it just me, or is NYT a bit into voyeurism of Southern historical 'pain'. Yes, you can travel the south and focus on racial history and tensions and use that as a lens through which to see both good and bad, but you could the same in Milwaukee WI, Chicago IL, Cleveland OH, Boston MA, and New York City itself. However, NYT won't do that, nor will it very often write up a visit to a southern city that doesn't fit the dramatic Faulkner-like backdrop that the NYT is going for.

Good writing here, I wish there were more photos. The delicious-sounding meal at Davis Cafe does not outweigh the sadness and degeneracy of Montgomery. I've never been to Alabama and certainly have zero desire to go now.

Thank you for visiting Montgomery with an open mind and highlighting good (as well as mentioning the bad you saw). We should never forget our history - otherwise we can see how far we've come and what we have yet to address. You can find good and bad, openness and racism everywhere you go regardless of what section of the country you travel.

Wonderful and fascinating read. What most appealed to me about it, though, is that the writer didn’t seem actually drive anywhere but walked or took cabs. As a non-driver myself I’m always on the look out for places to visit where you don’t have to drive to site see.

I grew up with Broadway near by. As a teenager I was at plays quit often. Later I spent time near the Twin Cities with the Guthrie to entertain me. Now in Alabama we have the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, as good or better than the other two! How did you miss this amazing gift to the state and region. Don’t forget the amazing park that helps makes a day at the theatre very special.

Wonderfully interesting piece.

Only 200,000 population and 48 murders in 2017, mostly shootings, and you call that friendly and safe? I certainly won't visit. Where I live in Canada, with a similar population there were 5, which was shockingly high.

Fine essay with one potential error. I believe the writer was in a neighborhood adjacent to Old Cloverdale because the O.C. is one of the most racially and economically diverse neighborhoods in The Gump, and is an enclave of Yankee transplants, civil rights attorneys, Bama State (HBCU) faculty and students. Because it is so diverse, people living in McMansions out east think O.C. is unsafe. I’m a Yankee from NH who hates 90% of what Bama admires in itself, but walkable, friendly, Old Cloverdale is an oasis.

Really enjoying these dispatches and Ms. Yuan's fresh take on places I thought I knew. Looking forward to the rest of her journey.

I grew up in Montgomery, graduated from Lanier High School in 1966, moved away in 1973, lived thru all the Civil Rights marches, saw National Guard jeeps on the streets during martial law. It is absolutely absurd to say that Montgomery is "Embedded With Pain".

This piece tantalized me with the photographs that cycled across the online “front page” of the NYT, but I could not find many of the photos in the body of the story. Otherwise well done, and thanks for featuring a place that is steeped in our nation’s crueler history but not permanently mired in it.