Civil Rights in the South

The Civil Rights Movement is crucial to the development of American culture and politics. We will be visiting key sites in the American South, where the Civil Rights Movement was born and where many of its most transformational moments occurred. The goal is to give students a stronger sense of what the movement is about, to help them understand the causes and consequences of the work, and to conceptualize the role they want to play in this pivotal aspect of the American experience.

Beginning in Memphis, we will visit the Stax Museum of American Soul Music, the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel, where MLK was assassinated, and Graceland. From Memphis, we will drive to Selma to visit the National Voting Rights Museum and Institute and to walk across the Edmund Pettus Bridge. That afternoon, we will continue on to Montgomery, where we will explore the Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church, where King was pastor, the Legacy Museum: From Enslavement to Mass Incarceration, and hopefully have dinner at B.B. King’s Blues Club. The last city we visit will be Birmingham, where we will visit the 16th Street Baptist Church, Kelly Ingram Park, and the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute. In the evenings we will look for chances to hear live music and have some light fun.

Educational Goals:

1. Learn more about the Civil Rights Movement and gain some understanding of its causes and the way it impacts American society today.

2. Gain an understanding and appreciation of Southern culture.

3. Learn about the music associated with the Civil Rights Movement.

4. Think about the role students want to play in American society.

Instructors: Scott Schnieder and Anne Hecox

Open to: Grades 9-12

Limit: 12 students    

Cost: $2,250

Local day: Friday, March 6   

Travel Dates: Sunday, March 8 - Friday, March 13