To kick start our History Active bus tour we had our History Active students meet with three members of the Friendship Nine group: Clarence Graham, Willie McCleod, and David Williamson Jr. Our students were able to interview the men and ask them questions about their experiences and their involvement during the civil rights movement. They mainly questioned them about the sit-ins that occurred during that time. Some of the questions our students asked them were, "What were your feelings towards those people that you were protesting against?" And "What were the feelings of your parents while you were performing these actions?" The Friendship Nine group had a lot to say to our students. They offered advice to our students while telling them about their personal experiences. Some of the things they said really stuck our students like this quote, "The only time you should be looking down on someone is when you are helping them up".
After our students conversed with the group they loaded their things onto the bus to start heading for our first stop, Atlanta. While on the bus we watched a movie that would help give us more knowledge about a part of the civil rights movement. The movie was called Freedom Riders. Many of us hadn't seen the movie, only a few had. The movie showed what people had done in order to fight for their rights. We were able to better understand the movement and the struggles that were faced by activists. Many of them were close to our own age range and that surprised us. It made all the events in the movie more realistic. We shortly arrived at our hotel and checked in.
The History Active group with the Friendship Nine.
DAY 2:
We began day two of our trip by visiting the King Center early in the morning. Once we got there we looked through their exhibit and watched the videos pertaining to each section. The exhibit was divided neatly into different parts showing the stages through which the civil rights movement happened. In. Each part there were pictures and quotes, or phrases that were related to that part of the movement. The first part talked about segregation and how the movement was started because of segregation. One of the quotes in this section talked about how a group of oppressed people would always revolt and fight the oppression. At the back of the exhibit there was a timeline depicting the main events that had occurred throughout the movement.
When we were done looking at the exhibit we went on a tour of Dr. King's house. We were able to walk through his house and picture how his childhood was like. The tour guide informed us about events that had happened in his house. We learned that his grandmother died when he was 12 years old, and we learned personal things like his bond with her and that he never liked to do the dishes.
When we finished the tour of his house we went out for a quick lunch at Plaza Fiesta before going to the Robert W. Woodruff Library at the Atlanta University center. When we got here we looked at some copies of the documents that belonged to Dr.King. We also learned that all the documents, letters, and some of his books had an estimated value of 32 million dollars. Overall the day was extraordinary and amazing.
History Active at The King Center.
Written by: Leslie Espinosa, a History Active student
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