At Rosa's Long-Overdue Statue

    I Spent some time mid-day today (before the deluge of rain falling now) at the new Rosa Parks statue on Dexter Avenue, where she stepped onto the bus and into history.

 The statue is across the street from the long vacant Winter Building, from which the telegram authorizing the first shots fired in the Civil War was sent. Montgomery was the initial Capitol of The Confederacy.

I spotted a very spirited youngster with (likely) Mom at the statue.

The child helped Rosa carry her handbag for a moment...

      Near the statue of Rosa, showing her waiting for the bus, there is a spot available for....someone. Originally it was created for a statue of the man for whom Montgomery is named. 

The Statue of Gen. Montgomery will sit here.

     General Richard Montgomery never came the city, but he died during the Revolutionary War and became a famous hero of that war. He died on New year's Eve 1775 during a planned invasion of Canada. 
     The General was a slave owner, and there were objections to his statue being installed just feet away from the place on Lower Dexter where slaves were bought and sold.
     The statue of Montgomery was instead placed in the park across from City Hall, where the statue of Hank Williams stood for years before it was relocated to Commerce Street.
     A spokesman for the city says the empty pedestal is there for people to take selfies etc.