Saint Joseph Notre Dame High School's Sojourn to the Past Experience: Day Three and Four: Atlanta/Selma

On Saturday, we had an informative lesson on Robert Kennedy and his legacy. We discussed at length how our country might have been different had he not been assassinated. In the afternoon, Minnijean Brown Trickey (of the Little Rock Nine) and Ken Mason, a former teacher at Castlemont High School in Oakland, led us in an anti-racism workshop. We explored institutionalized racism and shared our ideas about how to stop racism at this expansive level. The experience helped us to confront our own feelings about racism and how to stop it in our community. Saturday night was our favorite night thus far. We visited the Ebenezer Baptist Church site where Martin Luther King Jr. preached and where his funeral was held. We spent a lot of time reflecting at the King tomb and further explored King's contributions to our country as well as his great sacrifice. At the end of the evening, we sang “We Shall Overcome” at the tomb site and paid reverence to Dr. King’s life and legacy.

On Easter Sunday, we met first with Clark Olsen. Reverend Olsen, a retired Unitarian minister, went to Selma, Alabama with other clergy members to support the March for Voting Rights. While in Selma, Clark Olsen and two other ministers were brutally assaulted. One of the ministers, Jim Reeb, was killed. Reverend Olsen’s story and his message of hope and love in the face of brutal violence was an important lesson for us on Easter.

We next had the honor to spend over two hours with Representative John Lewis. Our textbook for this trip is Lewis' Walking with Wind, often called the definitive book of the Civil Rights Movement. Mr. Lewis talked about his role in the Civil Rights Movement, specifically his recollections of Bloody Sunday, when he tried to lead marchers from Selma to Montgomery to demand voting rights. Mr. Lewis is still passionate about creating a country of equality for all. His enthusiasm for the cause is contagious, and we feel so fortunate to have had the opportunity to hear him speak. Recently, John Lewis was verbally assaulted by Tea Party protesters as he was walking to the nation’s capitol to work for universal healthcare. The shameful incident is a powerful reminder that racism is alive and well in our country, and that some individuals use issues like equal access to healthcare as an opportunity to espouse hateful, racist rhetoric.

After meeting with Representative Lewis, we departed for Selma, Alabama. We are staying at the historic St. James Hotel, an antebellum inn built in the 1850s. The Hotel is right on the Alabama River, and our windows look straight out at the Edmund Pettus Bridge where the horrifying Bloody Sunday March took place. On Sunday night, we had a lesson on Selma, specifically the brave men and women who attempted to march 54 miles from Selma to Montgomery to demand voting rights from Governor George Wallace. We were treated to a visit from Pastor Jimmy Webb, who, as a teenager, led a group past a police barricade and confronted a group of policemen with questions about civic culture and civil religion. He was a surprise guest, and we LOVED hearing his stories and insight!