"If you don't vote, you don't count."

Today, the students met a true American family; The Dahmer family.  The Dahmer's lost their father, Vernon Dahmer, Sr., when he was murdered by Mississippi Klansmen for helping black people register to vote.   Vernon Dahmer's motto, etched into his gravestone, was "if you don't vote, you don't count."









Students were touched by this great, dedicated family.  They gave back to them at their father's gravesite.  Afterwards, the Dahmer family handed out voter registration forms to the students.











Students met legendary reporter Jerry Mitchell over lunch, at his Clarion Ledger headquarters.  Mr. Mitchell is a fearless reporter who was the first to find new sources with new evidence that would help bring the murderers of Medgar Evers and Vernon Dahmer, Sr. to jail.










We then drove to the home of Medgar Evers, the civil rights leader who was killed in is own driveway.  Students wrote about their experiences with courage and reflected on the courage of Medgar Evers in the very spot where he lost his life.










We boarded the bus and drove three hours to Memphis, Tennessee.  Along our three hour ride, students kept us all laughing with bus wide talent show.  Magicians, singers, actresses and poets abound.  Even some teachers got involved!

When we finally reached our hotel in Memphis, students quickly grouped off into their different schools, to create actions plans that they will take back to school with them.  Each school will identify a pressing issue in their school community - racism, sexism, gangs, homophobia, etc. - and create a plan to combat it that they will later present to their principal and school.  Students ended the night excited and hardly believing that they are leaving for home  Saturday!

"This do in rememberance of me."  The students woke up early in Birmingham, and had breakfast with Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, one of the top leaders of the civil rights movement alongside Martin Luther King, Jr. and Ralph Abernathy.  We got on the bus and headed to the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute.  There, we listened to Rev. Shuttlesworth relay his experiences trying to help black people fight for social equality.  Students talked to Rev. Shuttlesworth one on one outside, next to a lifelike statue of him on the lawn of the institute.  H e told the students that "a handshale is more powerful than a fist."

Minnijean and Rev. Shuttlesworth led the group in a lesson on music created for and about the civil rights movement.  Students sang "This Little Light of Mine" and "Amazing Grace", along with amny others.  The room was hot, but the students were still raring to go!

We bid adieu to both Rev. Shuttlesworth and Minnijean and went to 16th Street Baptiste Church, where the Four Little Girls were murdered in a tragic explosion.  Inside the church, Lead Teacher Jeff Steinberg challeneged the students to think about the weight of words.  He told students that when they use racial words, degrading language abouy women and homophobic slurs, they are degrading themselves as well.  On the pew of the church, a wooden panel read "This do in rememberance of me."






We boarded the bus and headed for Hattiesburg, MI.  We stopped along the way at the gravesite of James Chaney.  His daughter, Angela Lewis, - born just ten days before his murder - arrived and offered us some words about the father she never knew.  Students were surprised and touched.

On the rest of the ride to Hattieburg, students were taught a lesson on the bus about the Dahmer Family in preparation to meet them tomorow.  A great day!

The students slept in today, not waking for their first lesson until...8:30 AM!  After breakfast, students engaged in a lesson on the Children’s March of Birmingham, AL.  You may recall famous pictures from this march; it ended with the Birmingham police using dogs and water pressure from fire hoses to keep black children from leading a peaceful march for social equality.  This lesson was the most upbeat for students.  “I’m so excited after learning this”, said student Kiara Banks.  “It’s inspiring to see the change that kids can make.”  Students were surprised to learn about their special guest; our very own driver, Joseph, who was one of the children who marched.



Then the students were given a lesson by one of their very own.  This is the second Sojourn trip for student Luis Mora, who stood up before his peers and asked for their attention.  He told them to not forget Sojourn when they are back to their normal lives in a few days.  As a veteran of the trip, he knows first hand how life changing it can be, but also how easy it is to forget these lessons day to day.  The students gave Luis a standing ovation!

























Soon after, we got on the buses and headed to Birmingham, AL.  After checking in at the hotel, students were taken to Chris McNair Studios, an art gallery owned by the McNair Family.  The Chris McNair and his wife Maxine were involved in a national tragedy, when their daughter Denise McNair was murdered in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing with three other little girls.  The story of this event was detailed in Spike Lee’s Academy Award winning documentary, “Four Little Girls”.

Students ended the night early with a wonderful home made dinner cooked by the McNair Family.

"It isn't history, if it isn't the truth."

Students started off the day meeting Joann Bland, Executive Director of the Voting Rights Museum (Ms. Bland also participated the historic Selma march as an 11-year old.  Ms. Bland led the students on a marching tour of Selma.  I mean what I say when I say marching tour.  Ms. Bland is ex-military!






















Then, students marched across the Edmund Pettis Bridge to re-inact and commemorate Bloody Sunday.  In Congressman John Lewis's book, Walking with the Wind, he recalls leading the march with Rev. Hosea Williams.  As the two men walked over the bridge, slowly coming upon a sea of irate police waiting at the other end to stop them, Rev. Williams turned to John Lewis and asked if he could swim.  To be correct in our re-inactment, students Jasmyne Gholar and Melvin Shephard took on the roles of John Lewis and lead the group across.  And yes, they uttered the famous words.



But this time, marchers were escorted by Selma police on motorcycles to ensure they made it safely to the other side.
Students broke for lunch, boarded the bus and headed to the hotel in Montgomery, AL.  There the students did a lesson about the story of Emmett Till.  This is a particularly hard story for young people to hear, as it involves the horrific kidnapping and brutal murder of a 14-year old boy. 

A surprise speaker greeted the students at the end of the lesson: Simeoan Wright.  Simeon was Emmett Till’s cousin, who was also sharing a bed with Till when he was abducted.  Mr. Wright shared with the students his boyhood memories of Till; what a prankster he was, how he loved to laugh and loved to tell jokes.  He also relayed the specific events of Till’s murder trial, as they were concealed then and are still misinterpreted today.  One thing that Mr. Wright urged the students to do was to always investigate, challenge the atatus quo, and find out the truth.  As he put it, "it isn't history if it isn't the truth."







The evening lesson took place outside, in downtown Alabama.  The group was divided into three groups that went to three different lesson spots, and then rotated.  The first spot was the steps of Montgomery’s City Hall, where Mr. Mason lead a lesson on the music of the civil rights movement, which was integral to getting people to rise up and work together.  The second spot was the Southern Poverty Law Center Museum.  The last spot was the Civil Rights Memorial Center.  Although each spot was equally thrilling, students seemed moved by the Civil Rights Memorial the most.  “The memorial was the most memorable,” said student Dominic Merkle.  “I felt the most there.”  The memorial, a slab of oval granite with the major events of the civil rights movement – as well as the names of forty leaders who lost their lives – etched into its surface, provided a safe place for the students to mourn, pay respects and reflect.  Each touched their hands to the memorial and helped each other through the emotional moments.