Nearly 2 weeks into the trip, we gave the students the day off (and us too!) to explore the city.
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Day 12: New Orleans, LA
Nearly 2 weeks into the trip, we gave the students the day off (and us too!) to explore the city.
Friday, May 30, 2008
Day 11: New Orleans, LA
Our first of three days in New Orleans, we started by visiting the Amistad Research Center at Tulane University. The Amistad research collection houses one of the most extensive archival holdings in the nation on ethnic minorities, with a particular emphasis on African-American history. Students spent the morning working on their research projects.
After lunch, we met Times-Picayune reporter Gwen Filosa for a tour of areas affected by Hurricane Katrina in late August of 2005 and to talk about contemporary issues of race and poverty in New Orleans. It seems that little change has taken place since last year. The Lower Ninth Ward still seems eerily desolate, although a few (a very few) modular homes now dot the area. Official street signs and stop signs have been erected, and the roads are much improved over the pothole ridden ones of a year ago. Construction crews speed by the area and signs everywhere offer numbers for contractors and, especially, demolition workers. Otherwise, little has changed. Weeds have overtaken the many remaining concrete stoops and foundations where homes once were, giving the area the feel of a country field as opposed to an urban neighborhood. The picture above shows Robert Green's memorial to his wife and granddaughter, both of whom died during the storm. His FEMA trailor sits behind the memorial.
After lunch, we met Times-Picayune reporter Gwen Filosa for a tour of areas affected by Hurricane Katrina in late August of 2005 and to talk about contemporary issues of race and poverty in New Orleans. It seems that little change has taken place since last year. The Lower Ninth Ward still seems eerily desolate, although a few (a very few) modular homes now dot the area. Official street signs and stop signs have been erected, and the roads are much improved over the pothole ridden ones of a year ago. Construction crews speed by the area and signs everywhere offer numbers for contractors and, especially, demolition workers. Otherwise, little has changed. Weeds have overtaken the many remaining concrete stoops and foundations where homes once were, giving the area the feel of a country field as opposed to an urban neighborhood. The picture above shows Robert Green's memorial to his wife and granddaughter, both of whom died during the storm. His FEMA trailor sits behind the memorial.
Day 10: Jackson, MS - New Orleans, LA
Miles today: 200
Miles total: 2300
The day started with a downpour as we made our way over to the Medgar Evers House Museum. This house was purchased by Medgar Evers and his family when he moved to Jackson to become the NAACP field secretary there. It was one of the first developments in town created by Black businessmen. The home provides a stark and frightening look at the terror that plagued the Evers’ family. The piano partially blocks the front window, which was to help stop bullets fired into it. All of the mattresses sit directly on the floor – again to protect sleeping family members from stray bullets shot through the house. A bullet pockmark remains on a kitchen tile. We learned the details of how the cars were parked and lights kept off to provide as much protection to the family as possible against bullet fire. Despite these precautions, Evers was gunned down in his driveway in 1963.
His murderer Byron de la Beckwith, who instantly bragged about being the assassin, faced two trials with hung juries both times. He eventually was convicted in a third trial held 31 years after the murder. While Evers’ wife Myrlie wanted to keep the house, she received so many death threats that she and the three children (she was carrying a fourth and lost it when Medgar was killed) moved to California. She eventually deeded the house to Tougaloo College, who owns it today. Castlerock Productions used the home in its 1990s film The Ghosts of Mississippi and in exchange for using it, they left all of the period furniture in the house that they had bought for the set. With this acquisition and additional state funds, Tougaloo was able to open the house as a museum on an appointment-based system. The college plans to soon close the house, conduct major renovations, and reopen the house as a full-time museum with regular operating hours during the coming years.
We also stopped by Jackson State, the site of the 1970 murder of two students during Vietnam war protests on campus (which is rarely mentioned with the frequency of the Kent State shootings which took place at the same time). On the way out of town, we saw the Greyhound bus station where the Freedom Rides ended. We arrived in New Orleans in the evening.
Miles total: 2300
The day started with a downpour as we made our way over to the Medgar Evers House Museum. This house was purchased by Medgar Evers and his family when he moved to Jackson to become the NAACP field secretary there. It was one of the first developments in town created by Black businessmen. The home provides a stark and frightening look at the terror that plagued the Evers’ family. The piano partially blocks the front window, which was to help stop bullets fired into it. All of the mattresses sit directly on the floor – again to protect sleeping family members from stray bullets shot through the house. A bullet pockmark remains on a kitchen tile. We learned the details of how the cars were parked and lights kept off to provide as much protection to the family as possible against bullet fire. Despite these precautions, Evers was gunned down in his driveway in 1963.
His murderer Byron de la Beckwith, who instantly bragged about being the assassin, faced two trials with hung juries both times. He eventually was convicted in a third trial held 31 years after the murder. While Evers’ wife Myrlie wanted to keep the house, she received so many death threats that she and the three children (she was carrying a fourth and lost it when Medgar was killed) moved to California. She eventually deeded the house to Tougaloo College, who owns it today. Castlerock Productions used the home in its 1990s film The Ghosts of Mississippi and in exchange for using it, they left all of the period furniture in the house that they had bought for the set. With this acquisition and additional state funds, Tougaloo was able to open the house as a museum on an appointment-based system. The college plans to soon close the house, conduct major renovations, and reopen the house as a full-time museum with regular operating hours during the coming years.
We also stopped by Jackson State, the site of the 1970 murder of two students during Vietnam war protests on campus (which is rarely mentioned with the frequency of the Kent State shootings which took place at the same time). On the way out of town, we saw the Greyhound bus station where the Freedom Rides ended. We arrived in New Orleans in the evening.
Day 9: Oxford, MS - Philadelphia, MS - Jackson, MS
Miles today: 400
Miles total: 2100
Today, we spent the morning in the archives at the University of Mississippi. This stop was our first archival one, and the special collections at Ole Miss have extensive Civil Rights holdings, including an audio Blues collection and the papers of James Meredith.
After a quick lunch, we headed southeast to Philadelphia, MS. The students had watched Mississippi Burning (1988) over the weekend and were anxious to see some of the associated sites. Philadelphia is where three Civil Rights workers (two white men, Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman, and one Black man, James Chaney) traveled to investigate the burning of a church during Freedom Summer in 1964. [There were 67 church burnings/bombings in Mississippi during 1964 alone.] While there, the local sheriff arrested them late in the afternoon. Released later that night, they were never seen alive again. Their bodies were found a couple of months later in an earthen dam outside of town. After the release of the factually inaccurate but highly emotional and compelling Mississippi Burning, a sign was erected at the Mt Zion church (the church they came to town to investigate) to commemorate the three men. We met the pastor of the church who encouraged us to come back on a Sunday sometime to speak to the many congregation members who remember the 1964 burning and subsequent murders. They told us that the grave of James Chaney, located several towns over, is still regularly desecrated. We made our way to Jackson later in the evening.
Miles total: 2100
Today, we spent the morning in the archives at the University of Mississippi. This stop was our first archival one, and the special collections at Ole Miss have extensive Civil Rights holdings, including an audio Blues collection and the papers of James Meredith.
After a quick lunch, we headed southeast to Philadelphia, MS. The students had watched Mississippi Burning (1988) over the weekend and were anxious to see some of the associated sites. Philadelphia is where three Civil Rights workers (two white men, Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman, and one Black man, James Chaney) traveled to investigate the burning of a church during Freedom Summer in 1964. [There were 67 church burnings/bombings in Mississippi during 1964 alone.] While there, the local sheriff arrested them late in the afternoon. Released later that night, they were never seen alive again. Their bodies were found a couple of months later in an earthen dam outside of town. After the release of the factually inaccurate but highly emotional and compelling Mississippi Burning, a sign was erected at the Mt Zion church (the church they came to town to investigate) to commemorate the three men. We met the pastor of the church who encouraged us to come back on a Sunday sometime to speak to the many congregation members who remember the 1964 burning and subsequent murders. They told us that the grave of James Chaney, located several towns over, is still regularly desecrated. We made our way to Jackson later in the evening.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Day 8: Clarksdale, MS - Ruleville, MS - Oxford, MS
Miles today: 200
Miles total: 1700
Today, we toured the Delta Blues Museum in Clarksdale, MS (after begging them to open it for us on Memorial Day). They have received a donation of display cases since our visit last year, so their museum has a new cohesiveness and direction to it. Since the students went to the Rock'N'Soul museum in Memphis and we added readings on music, they better understood the connection between the blues and the Civil Rights movement than our group last year. We headed down to Ruleville to see Fannie Lou Hamer's gravesite. While there last year, we met with community members (including the mayor and Hamer's campaign manager Charles McLaurin) who were beginning to spruce up the gravesite. This year, we were greeted by a large, impressive memorial garden. While it's still under construction, the community has done a lot to the space with little funding in a year's time. We then headed toward Oxford, MS, where we toured around Ole Miss (the University of Mississippi). James Meredith became the first African American to attend Ole Miss in 1962. His enrollment led to a riot 30,000 strong on campus that killed 2 people and injured dozens. Thousands of troops were called in to quell the violence. With the Mississippi sun baking us at a crisp 100 degrees, we were all excited to get to the hotel and into the pool.
Miles total: 1700
Today, we toured the Delta Blues Museum in Clarksdale, MS (after begging them to open it for us on Memorial Day). They have received a donation of display cases since our visit last year, so their museum has a new cohesiveness and direction to it. Since the students went to the Rock'N'Soul museum in Memphis and we added readings on music, they better understood the connection between the blues and the Civil Rights movement than our group last year. We headed down to Ruleville to see Fannie Lou Hamer's gravesite. While there last year, we met with community members (including the mayor and Hamer's campaign manager Charles McLaurin) who were beginning to spruce up the gravesite. This year, we were greeted by a large, impressive memorial garden. While it's still under construction, the community has done a lot to the space with little funding in a year's time. We then headed toward Oxford, MS, where we toured around Ole Miss (the University of Mississippi). James Meredith became the first African American to attend Ole Miss in 1962. His enrollment led to a riot 30,000 strong on campus that killed 2 people and injured dozens. Thousands of troops were called in to quell the violence. With the Mississippi sun baking us at a crisp 100 degrees, we were all excited to get to the hotel and into the pool.
Day 7: Little Rock, AR - Delta - Clarksdale, MS
Miles today: 410 miles
Miles total: 1500 miles
The "Delta day" is one of my favorites. We left Little Rock and headed toward Mississippi via the Arkansas Delta. Once in Mississippi, we drove around backroads looking at a variety of uncommemorated sites related to the Civil Rights movement. We saw the field in Greenwood, MS where Stokeley Carmichael of SNCC declared "Black Power" in 1966. We saw the ever-crumbling store where Emmett Till said something or whistled at a white woman - his body was found a few days later tied to a cotton gin fan in the Tallahatchie river. There is no commemoration at the site, although a nearby community center is named for Till and a sign in Tutwiler points out the local Black funeral home that prepared his body for its journey back to Chicago. We also saw various sites in Indianola, including the future home of a museum dedicated to B.B. King (his hometown). Here's a picture of Club Ebony, a juke joint where B.B. got his start - he recently purchased it in order to renovate it for the future opening of his museum in town. We spent the night at the Shack Up Inn (check out the website!) in Clarksdale, MS.
Miles total: 1500 miles
The "Delta day" is one of my favorites. We left Little Rock and headed toward Mississippi via the Arkansas Delta. Once in Mississippi, we drove around backroads looking at a variety of uncommemorated sites related to the Civil Rights movement. We saw the field in Greenwood, MS where Stokeley Carmichael of SNCC declared "Black Power" in 1966. We saw the ever-crumbling store where Emmett Till said something or whistled at a white woman - his body was found a few days later tied to a cotton gin fan in the Tallahatchie river. There is no commemoration at the site, although a nearby community center is named for Till and a sign in Tutwiler points out the local Black funeral home that prepared his body for its journey back to Chicago. We also saw various sites in Indianola, including the future home of a museum dedicated to B.B. King (his hometown). Here's a picture of Club Ebony, a juke joint where B.B. got his start - he recently purchased it in order to renovate it for the future opening of his museum in town. We spent the night at the Shack Up Inn (check out the website!) in Clarksdale, MS.
Day 6: Memphis, TN - Little Rock, AR
Miles today: 140
Miles total: 1090
We crossed the Mississippi river into Arkansas today on our way to Little Rock. We visited the National Park Service's Little Rock museum, which opened last fall (so we missed it on last year's trip). It chronicles school desegregation in Little Rock, specifically at Central High School. After touring the museum, we walked around outside of the massive Central High School, where the first 9 Black students began school in the face of an angry mob in fall 1957. The school is 7 stories and boasts over 4,000 students. Today, it is more integrated than most schools, with a Black population of slightly over 50% and a white population of slightly more than 40%.
We spent the night in the swanky Peabody and were pleased to find that RiverFest - with bands, food, and other sorts of goodies - was going on right outside by the river.
Miles total: 1090
We crossed the Mississippi river into Arkansas today on our way to Little Rock. We visited the National Park Service's Little Rock museum, which opened last fall (so we missed it on last year's trip). It chronicles school desegregation in Little Rock, specifically at Central High School. After touring the museum, we walked around outside of the massive Central High School, where the first 9 Black students began school in the face of an angry mob in fall 1957. The school is 7 stories and boasts over 4,000 students. Today, it is more integrated than most schools, with a Black population of slightly over 50% and a white population of slightly more than 40%.
We spent the night in the swanky Peabody and were pleased to find that RiverFest - with bands, food, and other sorts of goodies - was going on right outside by the river.
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Day 5: Memphis, TN
We spent this morning at Rhodes College in midtown Memphis. Dr. Charles McKinney spoke about the contested chronology of the Civil Rights movement and the history of Civil Rights in Memphis. Over a dozen students from Rhodes, Fisk, and a few other universities joined us. They are in Memphis for the summer to work on the Crossroads to Freedom project, an online archive of oral histories with Civil Rights activists. They hope to complete 400-500 interviews over the course of the next 10 years. We all then had BBQ for lunch.
This afternoon, the students could choose which site that they wanted to visit. Most chose to go to the fantastic Rock'N'Soul museum, which chronicles the history of 20th century race relations through music. Since I had gone to the museum last month, I chose to take a tour of the Gibson guitar factory next door.
Day 4: Memphis, TN
Miles today: 2 (on foot)
We spent Thursday at the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, TN. The museum is housed in the former Lorraine Motel, the site of King's assassination on April 4, 1968. The museum is the most comprehensive one on Civil Rights history, and a new addition across the street specifically explores investigations into King's murder.
The second photo here shows Jacqueline Smith, who has sat in protest
against the museum for over 20 years. She argues that to truly preserve and honor King's vision, the motel should have been converted into low-income housing rather than made into a museum for middle-class tourists. She was one of the dozens of people displaced by the construction of the museum. [It was a rundown housing complex at the time.]
We spent Thursday at the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, TN. The museum is housed in the former Lorraine Motel, the site of King's assassination on April 4, 1968. The museum is the most comprehensive one on Civil Rights history, and a new addition across the street specifically explores investigations into King's murder.
The second photo here shows Jacqueline Smith, who has sat in protest
against the museum for over 20 years. She argues that to truly preserve and honor King's vision, the motel should have been converted into low-income housing rather than made into a museum for middle-class tourists. She was one of the dozens of people displaced by the construction of the museum. [It was a rundown housing complex at the time.]
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Day 3: Nashville, TN - Memphis, TN
Day 3
Miles today: 200
Miles total: 950
Today, we visited the Civil Rights Reading Room in the Nashville Public Library downtown on Church St. Students spent a few hours researching their projects, then we met with journalist John Egerton. Egerton has covered Civil Rights topics for over 50 years, and he showed us his recently finished film on the 1957 court-ordered school desegregation in Nashville.
We also visited the sites of the original Nashville sit-ins as well as Fisk University before we left for Memphis and ribs at the famous Rendezvous.
Miles today: 200
Miles total: 950
Today, we visited the Civil Rights Reading Room in the Nashville Public Library downtown on Church St. Students spent a few hours researching their projects, then we met with journalist John Egerton. Egerton has covered Civil Rights topics for over 50 years, and he showed us his recently finished film on the 1957 court-ordered school desegregation in Nashville.
We also visited the sites of the original Nashville sit-ins as well as Fisk University before we left for Memphis and ribs at the famous Rendezvous.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Day 2: Highlander - Knoxville, TN - Nashville, TN
Day 2
Miles today: 300
Total miles: 750
Today, we headed to Highlander Research and Education Center in New Market, TN to learn about the center's 75 years of social justice activism. We learned about the center's history of work with labor organizers, civil rights work, and their current work on issues concerning immigration, the environment, and training a new generation of social justice leaders through their work with youth-based initiatives. We were thrilled that Guy and Candie Carawan could stop by to sing a few songs for us. Guy arranged the popular version of the Civil Rights anthem "We Shall Overcome," and both he and Candie have actively worked on Civil Rights-related issues for over 60 years.
Then we went to Knoxville College where alum Cynthia Fleming (now a Civil Rights scholar at UT-Knoxville) spoke with us about Historically Black Colleges and Universities and her experiences as a woman in the Black Power movement in the late 1960s.
After a late lunch, we made our way to Nashville. Brian and I had dinner with a couple of local activists; the students ditched us (not too surprisingly) to explore downtown Nashville on their own.
Miles today: 300
Total miles: 750
Today, we headed to Highlander Research and Education Center in New Market, TN to learn about the center's 75 years of social justice activism. We learned about the center's history of work with labor organizers, civil rights work, and their current work on issues concerning immigration, the environment, and training a new generation of social justice leaders through their work with youth-based initiatives. We were thrilled that Guy and Candie Carawan could stop by to sing a few songs for us. Guy arranged the popular version of the Civil Rights anthem "We Shall Overcome," and both he and Candie have actively worked on Civil Rights-related issues for over 60 years.
Then we went to Knoxville College where alum Cynthia Fleming (now a Civil Rights scholar at UT-Knoxville) spoke with us about Historically Black Colleges and Universities and her experiences as a woman in the Black Power movement in the late 1960s.
After a late lunch, we made our way to Nashville. Brian and I had dinner with a couple of local activists; the students ditched us (not too surprisingly) to explore downtown Nashville on their own.
Day 1: Richmond, VA - Farmville, VA - East TN
Day 1
Miles Today: 450
Total miles: 450
We started our trip by visiting the Robert R. Moton Museum in Prince Edward County, Virginia. Students there, led by 16 year old Barbara Johns, went on strike in 1951 to protest conditions at their poorly funded Black high school in comparison to the local white school. Prince Edward County would become one of the five court cases to make up the 1954 Brown decision, which declared "separate but equal" facilities to be inherently unequal. From 1959-1964, Prince Edward County public schools closed rather than implement court-ordered integration of public schools. We met with a local professor and 2 activists from the 1950s and 1960s while there. We were pleased to learn that since our last visit, the museum has not only received status as a National Historic Landmark (the highest status granted to a historical site by the federal goverment) but it has also received an infusion of corporate funding which will allow it to fully develop its commemoration of the school and its exhibits.
On another note, we're thrilled to be driving the NEW university van.
Miles Today: 450
Total miles: 450
We started our trip by visiting the Robert R. Moton Museum in Prince Edward County, Virginia. Students there, led by 16 year old Barbara Johns, went on strike in 1951 to protest conditions at their poorly funded Black high school in comparison to the local white school. Prince Edward County would become one of the five court cases to make up the 1954 Brown decision, which declared "separate but equal" facilities to be inherently unequal. From 1959-1964, Prince Edward County public schools closed rather than implement court-ordered integration of public schools. We met with a local professor and 2 activists from the 1950s and 1960s while there. We were pleased to learn that since our last visit, the museum has not only received status as a National Historic Landmark (the highest status granted to a historical site by the federal goverment) but it has also received an infusion of corporate funding which will allow it to fully develop its commemoration of the school and its exhibits.
On another note, we're thrilled to be driving the NEW university van.
2008!
Hi everyone!
Thanks for checking out this year's Civil Rights travel course blog! In the interest of time, I'm simply going to add new posts to my old blog from last year. This is the first post, so all new posts will be posted ahead of it. For comparisons to last year, simpy scroll down!
Thanks for checking out this year's Civil Rights travel course blog! In the interest of time, I'm simply going to add new posts to my old blog from last year. This is the first post, so all new posts will be posted ahead of it. For comparisons to last year, simpy scroll down!
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