'Ladies in Red' take off from Oakland for cross-country civil rights tour

OAKLAND, Calif. (KTVU) - More than 120 women from the Bay Area are on a once-in-a-lifetime trip to visit civil rights landmarks in Alabama. 

The six-day trip includes stops in Birmingham, Montgomery, and Selma.

"This trip is going to be quite touching," said founder of Ladies in Red, Brenda Knight. "Those are some major cities that played an important role in the civil rights movement."

The group will visit historic sites, including the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, the town's first black church and that was tragically bombed in 1963, killing 4 girls. 

The Ladies in Red, a women's empowerment group, plan to retrace steps of civil rights leaders including Martin Luther King Jr. They plan to walk over the Edmund Pettus Bridge - the same bridge King crossed during protests for voting rights in the 1960s. 

"We need to be reminded of our fore-parents who have suffered so much," said Knight. "And walk the steps and just be a part of the whole journey."

Many of the members of this group are senior citizens. They said they grew up watching some of these landmark moments on television, and they felt it was important to see history first-hand. 

The theme of this trip is "We will never let go of history; we are here to remember."

Knight spent a year and a half planning out all the details for this trip. They will tour the Rosa Park Library, visit Bryan Stevenson's Peace and Justice Memorial, and go inside the Freedom Rides Museum. Knight also organized meet and greets with city officials and other history makers.

"What I'm hoping is they gain the richness of their history as African Americans," Knight said about the group. 

"It's a historical trip," said Ladies in Red member Faith Munn. "I was so excited to be able to go to these places that, as a young girl, that I saw on TV. So I'll be able to go to these places and really see it for myself."