The Trip: Bringing History to Life in the American South

 

American history is complicated in its multiculturalism and multiracialism—a complex, beautiful tapestry of viewpoints, experiences, and narratives that each contribute a specific and irreplaceable piece of our story. There’s simply no way to teach all of it, but at Graland, we do our best to give students a rich sampling, asking them to explore not only the voices of the majority but of all Americans. It isn’t easy, but we strive to bring it all to life, to lift it from the history books into something more vibrant through media, research inquiries, and lively class discussions and debates. But nothing we do in class is quite the same as being there. That’s why, for over a decade, eighth-graders have participated each fall in the beloved tradition of the Civil Rights Trip.

A whirlwind tour of five southern cities in as many days, “The Trip” follows the path of Dr. Martin Luther King’s ministry and activism, teaching us about countless other heroes along the way: Rosa Parks, John Lewis, Ralph Abernathy, Viola Liuzzo, and so very many others. We fly first to Atlanta where we walk through the neighborhood of King’s childhood, attend church with his family’s congregation and visit The National Center for Civil and Human Rights. From there, we journey through Selma, Montgomery, and Memphis to study events including Bloody Sunday, the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the Children’s Crusade, the Sixteenth Street Church Bombing, and Dr. King’s assassination right where they happened, on land that feels sacred in the weight of its history. We experience almost a dozen carefully selected museums along the way, each beautifully designed and perfectly curated to be impactful learning experiences. But even these don’t compare to the encounters we have with the community members who lived through these dramatic events.

For example, on every Civil Rights Trip, we spend Monday morning with Joanne Bland and her friends in Selma, Alabama. On “Selma day” these survivors of Bloody Sunday spend several hours sharing their heartfelt memories with our students, answering their questions, and walking them through the story. We pause at the place where Jimmy Lee Jackson was shot, hear how local protesters made plans to carry his body to the capitol in Montgomery, and discover how that idea evolved into a broader voting rights march. We stand on the corner where marchers gathered, on the bridge where national guard troops beat and gassed them, and in the churches where they took shelter as attacks continued long into the night. Then we hear about the inspirational arrival of Dr. King and how thousands of his followers descended on this tiny town, sweeping it into history with the ultimately successful 54-mile march to Montgomery.

This special time with Ms. Bland and other community members is intentional, but each year, we also have unexpected encounters. There was the year when Dr. Frederick Reese, a Selma Civil Rights hero lauded as one of the “courageous eight,” was passing by us on the sidewalk, and stopped to share his memories with our students. And the year when we inadvertently arrived at the 16th Street Baptist church in Birmingham on the exact anniversary of the bombing and were spontaneously invited by the community to share in a memorial service for the four little girls who died there. Something unscripted and unique happens every year to deepen our experience. And it is in all of the moments -- planned or not -- in which people share their first-hand memories of inspiration, fear, courage, and victory that American history really comes to life for our students. Year after year, the vast majority of both students and faculty cite The Civil Rights trip as their favorite thing about eighth grade, and with good reason. It is an incredibly powerful learning experience that builds not only knowledge, but empathy, integrity, and courage. We are all changed for the better by “The Trip.”