Blowing the Whistle

Not too far out of Huntsville is another scavenger hunt entitled, "Trains on Main".  There are 8 bronze trains stationed around the Historic Downtown of Madison. I mount my Ebike, with a clue card in my hand, and ride off in search of those locomotives.  To be honest, this one was quite challenging but mission accomplished!  I am a proud owner of a wooden train whistle given to me by the Visitor Center staff.

I return to the rural roads, at a leisure pace, enjoying the absence of big cities and towns. My destination is easy to find, as it stands eleven feet in the air in the center of the town, Gadsden (population 35,486). This confederate monument commemorates 15-year-old Emma Sansom. She is pointing her finger, showing the Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest, where the Union army temporarily set up camp. Her knowledge captured the soldiers. This statue continues to stand in the current location since 1906. As I am about to depart, I see a marker near a set of old train tracks. I walk one block over and find a bench facing the tracks crossing a river.

As I read the details of "The Lynching of Bunk Richardson" I find myself beginning to feel angry. I sit at the bench looking off to the tracks where Bunk Richardson, an innocent black man, was hung from the train trestles. I try and wrap my head around what happened in front of me on February 11, 1906. A mob of angry white citizens apprehended Bunk Richardson from jail, dragged him to these train tracks and hanged him, leaving him dangling over the Coosa River. No one was arrested. Bunk Richardson was accused of participating in the murder of a white woman but never was found guilty.

I rest for a bit thinking about how much I continue to learn about our history, the good and bad as I travel 48 States in 48 Months.  There are so many stories not taught in schools.  So many stories which need to be taught in our schools. It continues to be my intention bringing these stories to you as I experience each of them.