Ellis Family Vacation – Birmingham

The Ellis Family checks out Birmingham, Alabama, ground zero of the Civil Rights Movement, visiting museums, monuments, and locations that helped end segregation in the United States.

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Khadeen: I’m Khadeen. Content  creator, TV host and podcaster. Devale: That’s right. And I’m Devale. Former  N F L Athlete and current film and TV Star. Khadeen: And together we have four  boys. For better or for worse,   we love taking them everywhere. Kids: I am melting. My whole body’s melting.

Khadeen: This is the Ellis family vacation. So usually when we travel, we  like to challenge each other. Devale: Mm-hmm. Khadeen: But on this very special episode of  the Ellis’ family vacation, we visit Birmingham,   Alabama, which was a hot bed of controversy  during the Civil Rights movement in the U.S.

Devale: And rather than challenge each  other, we wanna challenge you guys,   our audience, not to get emotional as  we visit historical museums, monuments,   and locations that help change  the face of this country as we pay   amage to the people and organizations  that help end segregation in America.

Welcome to Birmingham, deep in the heart  of the American South. This Alabama city   was founded in 1871. Birmingham is rich with  American history. Both triumphs and tragedies,   and we are here to soak it all in.  In the decades after the Civil War,  

Birmingham became the Iron City, America’s  leading producer of iron and steel,   and because of its metal might, Vulcan the God of  fire, and Forge became the symbol of Birmingham. Khadeen: Do you think we can get up there? Devale: Yeah, we going up there to conquer the  

Statue. Cause that’s what  we do. Conquer statues baby Kids: Let’s go up there! Khadeen: Let me see a statue pose Jacks . Devale: That’s your, that’s your statue pose? Khadeen: Kaz where’s your statue pose? Devale: What’s the Ellis man  statue pose? Dogs gotta to eat. Kids: Dogs gotta eat. Devale: Dogs gotta eat.

Kids: Dogs gotta eat. Devale: All right, let’s rock. Yeah. Khadeen: So we started at Vulcan Park. Devale: Yeah. Khadeen: Which was a cute little  spot. And then once you go inside,   you can take a look through just the history  of the coal mines, the iron industry.

Devale: We’re able to take our kids  and walk them through a textbook. So what was happening during this time? Seg… Jackson: segregation. Devale: There you go. Khadeen: There you go. Devale: Segregation. This is important for you  guys to understand like the history of the country  

And why things are. The way they are, the more  you know, you can stop it from repeating yourself. Khadeen: There you go. Devale: Right? Khadeen: It’s amazing to see how much the kids  actually absorbed after being at these places. Jackson: The big statue Vulcan 56 feet. Devale: Mm-hmm. .

Jackson: It was first made in 1904. Was it? Devale: Yeah. There you go. 1904. There you go.  Stop. Stop. First of all, what is this? A leg.   Why is the leg by the head, bro? I, I’m good at  art. I could draw, I could be. Bang. Look at that.  

[00:03:15] What is this piece right here? Come  on. That’s just shoulder. What is this? I don’t   know what that is. I don’t even know what this is.  Somebody stole some of the pieces from the Vulcan   cause this, this just ain’t working out right.  This is throwing a rock. This is throwing a rock.

Khadeen: Once we finally got to the top where the  statue was, it’s a beautiful view of Birmingham. Devale: Look guys, we walked all the way   through there . See that? We  walked all the way down there.  

It would be dope if we had like a zip line and  we could just zip line straight back to the car . Khadeen: Okay, Devale: it’s time to eat. Khadeen: Time to eat. Devale: We went to a great place called Yo Mama’s. Khadeen: Oh yo. Devale: I had the fried catfish.

Khadeen: I’m still thinking about it. Devale: Hey bro, we trying to do an interview man.   We sat down with Denise. Okay. Denise  has family recipes passed down. Denise: Yeah, I changed up some of them like   the meatloaf. We had regular meatloaf  and now I do bacon wrap meatloaf, so, Khadeen: okay.

Denise: Yeah, so I kinda add a little bit. Khadeen: She adds a lil razzle  dazzle to recipes, I like that. Okay! Denise: And so, uh, what people  expect when they come to your mama’s Khadeen: gotcha. Denise: It came from my mama.

Khadeen: I love that. Yeah. I see the  food is coming out here and my husband’s   trying to decipher who has what. Right.  Let me go eat my chicken and waffles. Denise: Alright. Khadeen: Before he tries  to eat my share. All right, Denise: Alright Khadeen: That’s a waffle. All of it is different.

Devale: That food. What? Everyone: Slap Devale: one more time. That food what? Everyone: Slap . Khadeen: That’s our thing. If the food  is good, the food is going What? Slap .   Denise, baby. Keep it up sis. Tour Guide: Hey, welcome to Rick Woodfield.  Guys, this is America’s oldest baseball park.

Devale: That’s part of the  reason why we chose it. History Tour Guide: we’re also the last baseball park  that the Negro Leagues con considered a home field Devale: Birmingham black Barrons played  here in the early to mid 19 hundreds when  

The baseball leagues were segregated. The black  Barrons were so good that many times. They drew   larger crowds and more press coverage  than their white counter parts. Dang. Khadeen: Wow, guys. Devale: You see that feeling? You see that  feeling? They were people who looked just like us,  

Who couldn’t play in the major leagues. And now  look, y’all able to do whatever you want, right? Kids: Yes. Devale: Because people thought bigger.   Right? That’s our goal for our  whole life. Just think bigger. Khadeen: Think bigger, and do bigger. Right? Devale: Oh. Khadeen: What you got? Woo.

Devale: Let me see if I could hit  this at least past second base.   Oh, ah, oh, that was it. Oh. Khadeen: Oh, wow. Devale: Wow. Khadeen: This your workout  for the day, huh? Oh, nice. Devale: And I’m a retire on that. Khadeen: Thank you. Devale: I’m a retire on that.

Kaz: I wanna throw it. Devale: Oh, whoa. Khadeen: Is that a bad throw? Devale: you trying to beat my batter.  All right, lemme see. Eyes on the ball.   Hey, use your hips. You good? Tour Guide: Beat still again. Devale: Eyes on the ball. Eyes up.  There you go. Focus. Hey, hey, focus.

Jackson: I can’t hit it though. Devale: You can relax. Tour Guide: Just takes a minute. Devale: Hey, relax. Hey, come here, come here, come  here. Come here. Come here.   You so you so hard on yourself, bro. Come  here. You’re so hard on yourself. Listen,  

If professional athletes who do [00:06:45] this  thousands of times a day at best can only hit it   three outta 10 times, what make you think that  on the first time you gonna hit a home run? You have to have realistic expectations.  It’s your first day. Just relax,  

Focus on the details. All right, so you good  man? Gimme some, gimme some. You disappointed? Jackson: Yep. Devale: Listen, disappointment’s, part of life. If  you wanna be better, that means you gotta practice   greatness. Earned not expected. Jackson: We saw the um, locker room and there  was pictures of Reggie Jackson, Babe Ruth

Devale: Willie Mays Khadeen: Willie Mays Jackson: Willie Mays Khadeen: yes. Devale: Yeah. Jackson: Willie Mays Tour Guide: These locker rooms. Are built to  look just like they look back in the forties Devale: as a former pro athlete  with guys who may be athletes,  

May be engineers. It was good for them to see the Kids: maybe? Devale: Ener… okay. Jackson: You mean will be, will be. There you go. You  got speaking into existence. Khadeen: Not maybe. Devale: It was good to see, uh, where it all  started, you know, looking at the first black  

Team, the black Barrons, because. Uh, when  we talk about breaking color barriers and,   um, creating a legacy for your family and  for your people, it all starts at Rickwood,   which is amazing that my children  get a chance to hit the ball and  

Run the bases that so many greats  that look like them already ran. The Civil Rights Institute is across the  street from the 16th Street Baptist Church,   which is the sight of one of the darkest  moments in the civil rights movement.   On Sunday, September 15th, 1963, Ku Klux  [00:08:15] Klan members bombed and killed  

Four young black girls. The bombing became  a major turning point in race relations in   the United States, ultimately helping garner  public support for the Civil Rights Act of 1964. They got a chance to walk through  and see what segregation actually.

Tour Guide: So if you were black, you had  to go to the front door to pay. Of course. Khadeen: Right? Tour Guide: But then you would have to get  off and come to enter through the back door. Khadeen: Oh, wow. Tour Guide: Some bus drivers would  close the door, keep driving.

Devale: So your grandparents, my parents  lived through parts of segregation. They’ve been through it. And  look, now we live where we want,   we walk where we want, we do  what we want to do, right? Jackson: Mm-hmm. Devale: , Be proud of your history Khadeen: it’s okay.

Devale: It’s all right, bro. Look, it’s okay.   Hey, Hey, look at me. Look at me. Look at me.  Look at me. You can’t be afraid to cry, bro.   Look at me. I cry too. But you gotta learn to be  strong. If grandpa can live through this. Right?  

And create a better life for Papa School who  create a better life for me, you can too, right?   Don’t be afraid to cry, man. Don’t make  you less of a man. You got it, man. You know, after everything that we saw, it  was as good to to have the boys see some fun.

Khadeen: Right. Devale: And some innovation. Tour Guide: Welcome to the largest  motorcycle museum in the world. Devale: You learned about  motorcycles from as early as 18, Jackson: 1860 Devale: 1860s to now. Over 160 years  of innovation here in one space,  

And they got a chance to see all sorts of  things from, uh, 3D printing, uh, aerodynamics. We got to see a race track in the backyard of   the museum where Porsches were racing  around over a hundred miles per hour. Khadeen: Yeah, it was pretty cool.

Devale: It, it was. And the  place is pristine like. When   you see the details of Barber’s Motorsports, Khadeen: Yes Devale: You’ll realize what details can  do for a place. This place is amazing Khadeen: And what not touching  the motorcycles will do Cause Miss Mary was like, please refrain.  Refrain from touching the motorcycle.

Devale: Please don’t touch, Khadeen: Don’t touch. As Kairo was like. Devale: Please don’t touch. Please don’t touch Tour Guide: and get it like you  want it. Yeah, don’t touch him. Devale: Would you come back to Birmingham? Kairo: Yes. Khadeen: Yes. Devale: So you get the Kairo  approval. The Kairo stamp of approval

Khadeen: Who knew Birmingham  was gonna be so much fun? Devale: Yes. So much fun