“What A Wonderful World” By Jake Hollin
What a Wonderful World may seem like a peculiar title for a blog post as we near the end of our trip but the more I thought about it, nothing could be more apropos in many ways. Historically, when Louis Armstrong released the ballad in 1967, I don’t know if he meant it to be […]
Day 7: Joy in Soulsville, Memphis, TN by Shauna Smith
Soulsville. Encompassing all ages, races, religions, ethnicities, belief systems, and music genres. From ages 15 to 71, students of the Civil Rights Movement and of life came on this trip to find answers. Perhaps to even do a bit of soul searching. And in Memphis I daresay, many may have found, if not answers, at […]
Reflections on Marching Down Freedom’s Road (16-24 June 2024) by The Rev. Dr. Peter C. Bower
A prefatory introduction so you can catch a glimpse of WHY I do what I do: Some people ask me when I plan to retire from teaching, which is an odd question. Yes, odd, because my students would immediately respond, “He’s only 34 years old.” A far more revealing question than the retirement one is to […]
Blog Post – Day 6 Memphis by Susan Linzer
Our day began today with a lengthy drive from Birmingham to Memphis. Our days have been very full and it was a nice change of pace and enabled everyone to relax a little and catch up on some much needed sleep. Upon our arrival to Memphis, half of our group sampled the delicious dry rub […]
June 20th by Meg Frank
The Legacy Museum was so powerful, and the magnitude of the experience of Blacks throughout history left me stunned and overwhelmed. From the beginning video simulation of being on the ocean to walking across the ocean floor amongst the dead, I realized that I never really learned anything about slavery. Going through the rest of […]
June 20th by Regis Mcdevitt
We’ve been talking a lot on our journey about the timeline for the civil rights movement and where it began. Did it begin with Plessy v Ferguson in the 1890s when Homer Plessy dared to defy, and lose the challenge against Louisiana’s segregation law? Did it begin with Brown v the Board of Education in […]
Wednesday, June 19th 2024 by Michelle Ultmann
For 32 years I was a Pediatrician and I wrote notes in the SOAP format: Subjective (what patient says), Objective (what I observe), Assessment (what I think it could be ie Diagnosis) and Plan (Treatment initiated). If written in that format, my blog would be very cut and dry and simply not serve the deep […]
Honoring Juneteenth By Megan Lizewski
Today, Juneteenth, began at The Legacy Museum – a place which masterfully both walks visitors through the horrors of racial injustice and introduces us to the resilience and perseverance of the oppressed. Videos, charts, songs, holograms, quotes, photos come together to inform us of the centuries of slavery and racial terror. The undeniable truths leave […]
Juneteenth by Josh Ault
I’m sitting in front of a gigantic wall at the Freedom Monument Sculpture Park in Montgomery. It’s titled the National Monument to Freedom. I’m looking at the millions of names on this wall and thinking of the 10 million enslaved persons who were in the United States that they identify. I’m thinking of them. Their […]