SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 13 , 2022. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ EE F5
Mobile’s mystic societies and
marvel at the stunning wearable
works of art once draped over past
Mardi Gras monarchs.
This season, a new exhibit will
celebrate Carnival food, including
food trucks, mystic society din-
ners and the MoonPies, taffy, ra-
men noodles, peanuts and other
food often thrown from floats.
King cakes are also a key culi-
nary element of Mardi Gras in
Mobile. Pollman’s Bake Shop de-
livers the one locals love. “We
don’t put too much icing on our
[cakes],” said Michelle Pollman of
her family’s version of the signa-
ture ring-shaped pastry with a
baked-in plastic baby. “It’s a cof-
feecake version, so it’s very light
and fluffy — n ot too heavy.”
Pollman’s great-grandfather, aNew Orleans native, opened the
bakery in 1918. Today, the local
institution is run by Michelle and
her parents, Fred and Rose.
Though Pollman’s h as three store-
fronts, the downtown s hop is cen-
trally located along a parade
route, just a block from Bienville
Square, a city park trimmed with
live oaks and a cast-iron fountain.
Individual king cakes and cookies
shaped like jesters, crowns and
fleur-de-lis are all top picks at
Pollman’s d uring Carnival, too.
Location: Mobile is located in
the southwestern tip of Alabama,
just over a two-hour drive north-
east from New Orleans.Brown is a writer based in Columbus,
Ohio. Her website is vbwrites.com.
Find her on Instagram: @vb.writes.an epic spectacle, for sure, but
other options exist.
Location: New Orleans is lo-
cated in Southeast Louisiana,
with d irect flights from many ma-
jor airports.Mardi Gras is a major point of
historical and cultural pride in
Mobile. French settlers held a
Mardi Gras-type celebration in
Mobile as early as 1703, according
to Cart Blackwell, curator at the
Mobile Carnival Museum. New
Orleans was founded in 1718.
Mobile was “settled before NewAmerican C arnival.”
In addition to being first in
Mardi Gras, Mobile also prides
itself on festivities appropriate for
everyone. “It’s a family affair,”
Blackwell said. “That is the defin-
ing characteristic of Carnival in
Mobile: It’s a multigenerational
family experience.”
More than 1 million people at-
tend Mardi Gras in Mobile annu-
ally, eagerly awaiting more than
40 parades along several routes.
The 14-gallery Carnival Mu-
seum invites visitors to climb on a
papier-mâché float, study up onOrleans, so we can definitely
claim that,” Blackwell said. “But
what will never be known is the
actual form early Carnival cele-
brations took.” Historians do
know that, nearly 200 years ago,
Mobilians concocted the Carnival
format still used today. “On New
Year’s Eve 1830, the two ingredi-
ents that define American Carni-
val — a parade according to a
theme that translates to a tableau
and ball afterward — were estab-
lished in Mobile,” he said. “That
template was taken to New Or-
leans, and now you see it acrossBY VIRGINIA BROWNOffering alternatives to over-
crowded destinations.
Colorful beads in purple, green
and gold drape the live oaks along
St. Charles Avenue in New Or-
leans to usher in the Mardi Gras
season.
The Big Easy is synonymous
with Mardi Gras in the United
States; Louisiana’s largest city
welcomes nearly 1.5 million an-
nual visitors f or Carnival, the cele-
bratory period leading up to the
Christian season of Lent.
More than 40 themed parade
processions, each led by a unique
krewe, take to the streets
throughout the city to entertain
crowds in the weeks leading up to
Fat Tuesday. Krewes include Joan
of Arc, whose theme this year is
medieval plague doctors, and the
Intergalactic Krewe of Chewbac-
chus, a foot parade of gamers,
Trekkies and other self-
proclaimed “super nerds” that
takes its name from Bacchus, the
Roman god of wine, and Chew-
bacca, from Star Wars.
But the Mardi Gras revelry in
New Orleans comes at a cost,
including reported ride-share
and rental property price hikes,
bathroom fees, claustrophobic
crowds and traffic jams. For the
more intimidated traveler, it may
feel a bit overwhelming.
And although many area pa-
rades can be fun for families, the
French Quarter is another story.
Local outlets discourage bringing
children to this area during the
season because of the often rau-
cous, adult-only behavior of the
crowds.
Mardi Gras in New Orleans is
GO HERE, NOT THERENew Orleans is the life of the Mardi — but Mobile, Ala., is fun for all agesGERALD HERBERT/ASSOCIATED PRESSJONATHAN BACHMAN/GETTY IMAGES
LEFT: People celebrate during a parade dubbed “Tardy Gras”
in Mobile, Ala., in May, after Mardi Gras events were canceled
because of the coronavirus pandemic. RIGHT: Revelers parade
in the French Quarter in New Orleans in February 2020.beled “Preacher,” “Activist,” “Pub-
lic Servant” and “Visionary” take
us from his childhood on a tenant
farm in Tr oy, Ala., to national
prominence.
The journey starts with chick-
en figurines. As a child, the man
who was called the “conscience of
Congress” hoped to become a
minister, and during nightly
feeds he would preach to an
audience of chickens. Through-
out his life, chickens reminded
Lewis of his roots.
The 24-foot painting above the
cases, called “The Hero’s Jour-
ney,” captures key moments from
Lewis’s life, from the cotton fields
of his youth to his more than 50
honorary degrees. The art is
framed by riveted metal, evoking
Selma’s Edmund Pettus Bridge,
where Lewis was beaten on
Bloody Sunday, a nd it’s s urround-
ed by charred wood. The fire-tem-
pered material, we’re told, repre-
sents the inner strength of pro-
testers, and also the farmhouse
where Lewis was raised.
Other artifacts include an ar-
rest file from Nashville; a John
Lewis action figure; and his Presi-
dential Medal of Freedom.
In t he bottom corner of the last
case, I notice the signed envelope
from the 2009 inauguration
when the nation’s f irst Black pres-
ident acknowledged his debt to
the civil rights leader who preced-
ed him.
“Because of you, John,” reads
the note from Barack Obama.
Too soon, it’s time to go. As a
chorus of “We Shall Overcome”
rings out from a looping video,
Lewis offers his parting words.
“In the ’60s, I got arrested a few
times, 40 times, and since I’ve
been in Congress, another five
times,” he says. “My philosophy is
very simple: When you see some-
thing that’s not right, not fair, not
just, stand up, say something,
speak up and speak out.”
I turn to join the stream of
passengers flowing toward secu-
rity, then to my flight. As Lewis
has promised, the world awaits.Bleiberg is a writer based in
Charlottesville. Find him on
Instagram: @lbleiberg.A candid airport waiting room
photo shows King and aide An-
drew Young, who would become
U. S. ambassador to the United
Nations. Both men look tired but
determined.
Artifacts include a permit, pro-
gram and protest sign from the
1963 March on Washington; a suit
worn by King when he met with
President Lyndon B. Johnson to
discuss the Voting Rights Act;
and a funeral photo of a mule-
drawn cart carrying his casket.
Before leaving, I took note of
the 10 -foot wall tapestry by Czech
artist Peter Sis. It was sponsored
by U2 members Bono and the
Edge, along with the Police’s
Sting.
The handmade artwork, show-ing a silhouette of a robed King,
recalls his speech at Washington’s
Lincoln Memorial during the
195 7 Prayer Pilgrimage for Free-
dom. King’s “Give Us the Ballot”
address was the “I Have a Dream”
of its day, helping cement his
national profile.
Meanwhile, as airport visitors
can learn as they make their way
down the corridor between con-
courses B and C, Atlanta was
facing its own struggle with civil
rights.
Presented sequentially, a
more than 400 -foot-long display
called “A Walk Through Atlan-
ta History,” fills two walls with
a mosaic of graphics, videos
and photos. Most passengers,
gliding by on moving sidewalks,pass it in a blur.
Step off the treadmill and
you’ll find a mini city museum
starting at 1 1,000 B.C. and ending
with Atlanta’s appearance on the
global stage as host of the 1996
Summer Olympics. Although
heavy on boosterism, the exhibits
don’t ignore reality. During the
mid- 20 th century, Atlanta culti-
vated its reputation as the “city
too busy to hate.” The story is
more complicated.
Photos show a voting registra-
tion drive in the 1940 s and an
NAACP protest sign: “12 other
Southern cities have open hotels,
why not Atlanta?” Another dis-
play notes how the Georgia legis-
lature refused to swear in duly
elected civil rights activist JulianBond, and we also see a banquet
celebrating King’s 1 964 Nobel
Peace Prize — one of the first
times Atlanta’s White establish-
ment honored its native son.
But of all the displays, the
Lewis exhibit, dedicated in 20 19,
a year before his death, feels most
personal. He worked with exhibit
designers and lent objects for
display. During the dedication of
the tribute wall, the congressman
noted that he spent plenty of time
at Hartsfield-Jackson. “Some-
times I feel like I should have
maybe a condo, maybe an apart-
ment, a house here at the airport.
I feel like I live here.”
When I pass through the air-
port a week later, I build in extra
time to visit. Separate cases la-tutions such as the King Center or
Smithsonian,” he says. The dis-
plays provide “a unique opportu-
nity that not even the greatest
museums in the world enjoy: the
ability to reach an audience ...
that does not intentionally seek
out such experiences.”
Because there are many other
traditional exhibits devoted to
King, those who want to learn
about the leader aren’t forced to
come to the airport. But the Lewis
display and artifacts make up one
of the most extensive exhibits
about him.
Tom Houck, who served as a
driver and personal assistant to
King and now runs Civil Rights
Tours Atlanta, is a big fan of the
displays. “I’m for doing every-
thing possible to put our African
American civil rights history in
front of everyone’s eyes.” And, he
adds, the displays are particularly
appropriate, given that the air-
port’s name partially honors the
city’s first Black mayor, Maynard
Jackson.
So after clearing security, I
pull my rolling suitcase past an
InMotion electronics and head-
phone store to take a look at
“Legacy of a Dream,” the free-
standing King display at the top
of the escalators in Concourse E.
The display, which includes
artifacts on loan from the King
Center for Nonviolent Social
Change and the Smithsonian In-
stitution’s National Museum of
American History, was installed
in the 1980 s. It offers a window
into the leader’s p ersonality, i nse-
curities and struggles.
Family pictures show the
famed minister at age 2. The text
notes that he felt the sting of
racism just a few years later,
when the mother of two White
boys wouldn’t let them play to-
gether.
Other photos offer glimpses of
upper-class Black life in Jim Crow
Atlanta: a family portrait with a
10 -year-old King in a suit and tie;
college graduation with his sister;
and his wedding day with Coretta
Scott. (The future preacher, we
learn, discussed marriage on
their first date.) Later, we see
King playing with his children, as
well as presiding over a family
dinner with a picture of Mahatma
Gandhi hanging over the door-
way.
There are some surprises. A
kiosk shows King’s reading glass-
es, noting that although he didn’t
need them, he felt they made him
look distinguished.
The minister, you can sense,
felt the enormous burden of his
role. The exhibit includes a draft
of his 1959 resignation letter from
Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in
Montgomery, Ala., where he met
Rosa Parks and led the bus boy-
cott.
“At points I was unprepared for
the symbolic role that history had
thrust upon me,” he wrote to his
congregation. “Little did I know
... a movement ... would change
the course of my life forever.”
ATLANTA FROM F1
Atlanta’s unexpected civil rights museum: Its airport
PHOTOS BY LARRY BLEIBERG FOR THE WASHINGTON POST
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: An exhibit i n the Atlanta airport includes photos and mementos from the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s
life and a wall tapestry by artist Peter Sis depicting King; the airport’s display of artifacts that belonged to John Lewis is one of the
most extensive exhibits about the civil rights leader and congressman and includes a file from his arrest in Nashville; travelers going
between concourses B and C at the airport pass a m ore than 400-foot-long display illustrating the city’s struggle to end segregation.If you go
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta
International Airport
6000 N. Te rminal Pkwy., Atlanta
800-897-1910
atl.com
Atlanta’s international airport
offers several surprising exhibits
exploring civil rights history. The
John Lewis tribute wall is on the
nonsecure side of the airport in the
domestic atrium. Connecting
passengers will need to exit the
secure area and return back
through security to catch their next
flight. The Rev. Martin Luther King
Jr. and Atlanta exhibits are on the
secure side and only accessible to
ticketed passengers. Open daily
24 hours per day.