2005 Civil Rights Journey. Montgomery. Tuesday morning, July 12.

Montgomery. Tuesday, July 12.

It's our busiest day and everyone is scrambling in the early morning to round up their friends, their luggage and their friends' luggage so we can board the bus and head to Montgomery. Continental breakfasts are gulped down. Room keys cover the front desk.

The Rosa Parks Library and Museum is a testament to what can follow from one brave, individual act. The Montgomery Bus Boycott followed from this 42-year-old African-American seamstress' polite, steadfast refusal in 1955 to surrender her seat for a white man on a public bus. The boycotters' victory and ultimate desegregation of the buses gave the young leaders of the civil rights movement a tremendous feeling of momentum.

Just before noon, in 90-degree heat, we sit on the lawn of a colleague human rights organization, the Southern Poverty Law Center, and hear about its legal strategies for fighting racism and hate groups, and promoting tolerance. An energetic conversation follows, notwithstanding the heat and lack of sleep (for some).

The Montgomery Unitarian Universalist Fellowship had planned to host a 3-hour dinner and discussion the evening before. But the congregation won't let the hurricane interfere with its generosity -- its members are kind and flexible enough to prepare lunches to go. We feel awful making only a pit stop while receiving red-carpet treatment. The peanut butter sticks to the roof of our mouths while we give our thanks and climb back up the steep steps of the bus. We count off -- we think we have everybody. Our driver moves us on to Selma.