By Danielle Bowden
MTSU Raider Shakedown Reporter
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — A group of
16 African-American Studies students from Middle Tennessee State University
took a trip to Alabama on April 8 to visit the historical Civil Rights sites
located in the cities of Selma, Birmingham and Montgomery.
The African-American Studies Department at MTSU selected
16 students by asking those who were interested to travel to Alabama for the
weekend. The students stayed in Montgomery, Alabama, but traveled outside of
the city during the day. Students gained knowledge of the Civil Rights movement
and the frequent attacks on the protesters by racist law enforcement officers
and white community leaders.
Dr.
Thomas Bynum is a professor at MTSU in the AAS Department. Every year, Dr.
Bynum takes students on trips out of state to explore historical civil rights sites.
The trips are always free for students.
“We take students to Civil Rights sites
every year, and they enjoy it each time.” said Bynum
Students visited the historical
Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, where hundreds of Civil Rights marchers and
activists were brutally beaten and arrested. AAS students also visited the Rosa
Parks Museum. Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a
Montgomery city bus. Students concluded their tour at the Birmingham Civil
Rights Institute across from the 16th Street Baptist Church.
The AAS students were able to experience what it was like
during the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s including the brutality protesters
faced. They viewed exhibits, watched videos, and followed in the footsteps of
legendary leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. One of the things students saw
was historical documents of letters written by historic figures. The letters of
encouragement were written to keep activists spirits high and strong during the
time.
“This
was a mind-changing experience.” said MTSU student Leslie Berkley. “I never knew how much protesters suffered from the Civil
Rights movement because we weren’t taught Black history in school”
Students
saw the 16th Street Baptist Church, but they were unable to go inside
because it was closed for the day. The church is historical because it was the
first African-American Baptist church in Birmingham. In 1963, the Ku Klux Klan
planted a bomb in the church’s basement causing the deaths of three out of four
little girls that were in the basement at the time. Though students were not
able to go inside of the church, they were still able to learn the history of
the church.
While traveling, students shared how they felt about
their ancestors fighting for equality. They were able to understand in deeper
context how difficult it was to be black in America during those years.
Students were struggling to hold back tears at times. It was an emotional
atmosphere, yet students were empowered after leaving the sites.
For more information about the African-American Studies
Program at MTSU, visit www. http://mtsu.edu/aas/index.php
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