The Class of 2018 spent five impactful days in the South, where they explored the Civil Rights Movement through museums, monuments and meeting those who lived through the era. Thanks to history teacher Jane Maslanka, we have a daily blog of their experiences.

Love One Another (9/10/17)

[Atlanta, GA] Sunday. This morning began with an early wake-up and breakfast at our hotel. Students were incredibly efficient getting dressed, packed, and downstairs for breakfast--and for the return of their phones! 

 

Dressed in our Sunday best, we headed to the Ebenezer Baptist Church, where The Reverend Raphael Warnock preached a rousing sermon titled “The Gospel of One Another.” Reverend Warnock described the relationships among the disciples of Christ to exemplify the importance of loving one another within our communities—especially when those communities are made up of diverse backgrounds and disparate personalities. 

 

After church, we stepped into the adjacent MLK Visitor’s Center museum, which provided a thorough overview of Dr. King's life and accomplishments. From there, we walked to Dr. King’s birthplace and then to the quiet sanctuary of Ebenezer Baptist Church's original site--the church where Dr. King grew up listening to his father preach and eventually became co-pastor himself. Listening to a recording of King’s preaching in that historic space, students were silenced by the site’s poignant beauty.  

 

After church and the historic sites, we headed to the CNN center for lunch in their large, varied food court. Vegetables were available and encouraged, but not widely consumed. Fueled by the food court, we walked a couple of blocks to the National Center for Civil and Human Rights--a stunning museum with compelling galleries. Students were impacted by a powerful "lunch counter" exhibit that simulates the abuse experienced by the freedom riders, touched by an exhibit that memorialized four little girls killed in Birmingham, and engrossed by stories of current human rights issues around the world.

 

Having taken quite a bite out of Atlanta, we boarded our buses for Montgomery, and spent some time journaling along the way. Once at our hotel, we met as advisories to share our thoughts, experiences, and insights. Then it was off to the banks of the Alabama river for a picnic dinner in the park and a chance to run off some steam. Kids who had just been discussing their insights with profound maturity were suddenly cartwheeling and somersaulting down grassy slopes like children again. It was just what they needed—and the perfect end to a lovely day.

 

Phone collection and lights out at 9:15 will hopefully give everyone a chance for some much-needed rest as tomorrow will be jam-packed. We’re off to Selma to meet with Bloody Sunday survivor Joanne Bland, then the Lowndes County Interpretive Center, and finally back to Montgomery to tour the SPLC and their Civil Rights Memorial.   

[Selma, AL] The weather in this part of Alabama today was rainy but not dramatic. Nevertheless, since forecasters had erred on the side of caution, many of our itinerary sites were closed, so we all got to practice flexibility and creativity. Eighth graders handled the day beautifully—especially those who were prepared to present their research at the canceled locations. Although it might have been nerve-wracking to await the news of exactly if, when, and where they would end up addressing their peers to present their knowledge, they handled it with poise, polish, and professionalism, and this year’s presentations remain some of the best we’ve ever seen.

Regardless of other weather-related closings, Joanne Bland, our Selma tour guide, and Bloody Sunday hero, did not let us down. Joanne fascinated students with gripping stories from her childhood when she marched for civil rights, was attacked on the Edmund Pettus Bridge, and spent time with Dr. King. She showed us important historical sites we had read about, including Brown Chapel and Tabernacle Baptist Church, as well as some we hadn’t, like the Ancient Africa, Enslavement, and Civil War Museum and a beautiful antebellum mansion built by enslaved craftsmen whose artistry and skill survives the ages.

Joanne offered students an important message—that in the continuing struggle for an equitable, free, and inclusive world, each one of us is like a piece of a jigsaw puzzle. The picture just isn’t complete unless we all care for ourselves and each other with passion and purpose. And, as she told the kids, “Your piece is the most important piece!”

After our tour, Joanne’s older sister Sadie served us a homemade lunch: perfectly southern fried chicken, green beans, mashed potatoes, sweet tea, and sweet potato pie. The food was local and delicious, and students were encouraged to go back for seconds. Joanne and Sadie insisted that the rule of the day “no one leaves hungry!” We are fairly sure no one did. Our time with Joanne ended with the eighth-grade choir performing “Woke Up This Morning” for her and lots of hugs all around after they finished. She then launched us on our own march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge, and we said our goodbyes to Selma and Ms. Bland.

With all of our other sites closed for the day, we returned to our hotel, where staff graciously provided us with a conference room. There, students presented the research intended for the closed sites, and then, after a quick class meeting, headed back to the buses for some down time and fun at Bama Lanes, which was open despite the rain and more than happy to host over 70 bowlers.

All in all, it was a beautiful day—not quite as originally planned, but rich, educational, and fun nonetheless. As the rain subsided to a post-storm drizzle, we had pizza at the hotel, and students retired early to catch up on their rest. One thing is certain, whatever tomorrow holds, our kids will make the best of it. That’s just who they are.

[Montgomery and Birmingham, AL] After a long restful night’s sleep culminating in a later than usual wakeup call, students headed down to the lobby for a hearty breakfast of omelets and pancakes. We then packed up and headed to The Southern Poverty Law Center in downtown Montgomery, Alabama. At the SPLC Visitor’s Center, our guide emphasized the fact that the Civil Rights Movement did not just begin and end in the 1960’s, but still lives on today. With this theme in mind, students listened to the stories of the forty women and men victimized by violence during the Civil Rights Movement and memorialized by Maya Lin’s Civil Rights Memorial. Like the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial, the names of the deceased are carved in black granite; however, students keenly noted differences between the two memorials in preparation for their own projects. For one, Lin’s Civil Rights Memorial is a circular fountain that allows visitors to run their hands over the names of the victims until as Maya Lin put it, “the whole circle [has] been filled by a ring of hands.”  As a result, students not only felt connected to one another in the present, but also felt connected to Civil Rights martyrs in the past. Once students looked back into history, they were now ready to look forward to the future by placing their names on the Wall of Tolerance at SPLC. In doing so, they agreed to take a stand against hatred, injustice, and intolerance.

After our visit to SPLC, we headed over to the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church where Martin Luther King Jr. was pastor until 1959. Students were able to walk through Dr. King’s office where they could envision Dr. King writing his prolific sermons or organizing the Montgomery bus boycott. We also learned that organist Althea Thompson, who was hired by Dr. King himself, still plays at the church today.

 

Once we took a group picture in front of the pulpit at the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, we drove to Birmingham, where we visited the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church where more than one-thousand students, some as young as eight, gathered before marching in the 1963 Children’s Crusade in downtown Birmingham. As we sat inside the church along with quite a few visitors who had fled the hurricane in Florida, we learned that several months after the Children’s Crusade, the church was bombed by members of KKK. Four girls were killed, three of whom were fourteen-years-old. One student, upon asking the Klan’s agenda, learned that the men had planted over sixty bombs between 1954 and 1963 and were not convicted until some thirty years later. After a Q&A with the church’s curator, members of the eighth grade choir sang “This May be the Last Time” in honor of the Civil Rights martyrs.  Their rousing performance prompted all who were in the church to sing quietly along. 

 

Once outside the church, we walked across the street to the Kelly Ingram Park where students gazed at bronze sculptures of innocent children juxtaposed against aggressive police dogs, fire hoses, and policemen. As students wandered about in the drizzling rain, they reflected on the day’s events putting themselves in the shoes of the young demonstrators. 

 

We ended the day with a bus ride to Tuscaloosa where we checked into a rather posh and trendy Embassy Suites.  After walking around the charming college town and indulging in a delicious dinner, we ended the evening with a student reflection that hearkened back to our time at the Southern Poverty Law Center earlier in the day: “Where are we now in terms of the Civil Rights movement?” 

[Memphis, TN] After a hasty breakfast, we packed up, boarded the buses and headed for Memphis. The weather had improved significantly with the temperature rising, and rain downgraded to a mere schvitz. As we wended our way through the soggy Alabama countryside with its lush green forests filled with southern pine, students reflected on the previous day’s events in their journals, chatted with friends, and napped. 

 

Upon our arrival in Memphis, we headed straight to the iconic Stax Museum of American Soul Music where we learned the origins of soul: a little bit of country, a little bit of gospel, and a little bit of blues. Students found themselves inspired by the likes of Otis Redding, Sam and Dave, and Carla Thomas all of whom according to Stevie Wonder “let their God given talent come out of them whether the world liked it or not.” Inspired by the exhibits and raucous spirit of soul, students promptly got down with their bad selves and boogie oogie, oogie, oogied on the museum’s dance floor. 

 

After cutting a few dozen rugs, we made our way to the National Civil Rights Museum, which is attached to the Lorraine Motel. Students started with a map of the middle passage where some eleven million human beings were transported and sold into slavery. As students then navigated their way through the museum with journals in hand, they experienced seminal moments in Civil Rights history: Brown v. Board of Education, Rosa Parks, lunch counter sit-ins, and the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The exhibits culminated in the hotel room and balcony where Martin Luther King Jr. spoke his last words. This was emotional for students and faculty alike. Throughout the trip, we have read and experienced Dr. King’s speeches, his sermons, his letters, and visited his churches. Yet, although students felt a sense of grief and anger, they did not want to leave the museum. Instead, they drew a sense of hope from Dr. King himself. After exiting the museum, students sat in a park facing the balcony where Dr. King was assassinated and reflected on the Dr. King’s words that love, and only love, can drive out hate. 

 

We finished the day with our advisories on Beale St where we feasted on signature Memphis BBQ, soul food, and fudge, and took in one last night in the South.