4 minute read
Looking at Civil Rights
through black eyes
DIO VISITS...
United States of America
History teacher Rosemarie Machell was the 2019 recipient of the Heritage Foundation’s Honor Jensen Memorial Award, the proceeds of which she put towards an educational trip to the United States. She reports on the experience here.
Iwas fortunate to take up the opportunity to join an educational trip with teachers from all over New Zealand to the USA last September, looking at black civil rights through black eyes. We were there for 16 days for what proved to be a very informative and, at times, confronting trip. One of the great benefits was making connections with other teachers, all of whom teach the topic of Black Civil
Rights in their senior history courses.
Initially, we had four days in Washington DC, where we visited the White House and the Supreme Court. A memorable highlight was a visit to Ford’s Theatre, where President Lincoln was shot while watching a performance. While in Washington we undertook a bicycle tour around the wonderful monuments, starting with the Washington Monument and finishing at the Lincoln Memorial, the place where the march on Washington took place in 1963. This was where Martin Luther King made his famous ‘I have a Dream’ speech. Our guide was a young history teacher who was also a keen cyclist. The visit to the Holocaust Centre in Washington DC was particularly emotional for all of us. of the South. While there, we explored the Centre for Civil and Human Rights, and from there we visited Martin Luther King’s boyhood home. A highlight was a tour of CNN and the chance to try our hand at news announcing. From there we continued our travel in two vans, visiting five states – Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Mississippi and Arkansas, leaving for home from Dallas, Texas.
Our stay in Montgomery, Alabama was very enjoyable as we experienced genuine southern hospitality. The Rosa Parks Museum was well worth the visit, and we found some excellent coffee (almost as good as in New Zealand!)
The National Memorial for Peace and Justice, informally known as the Lynching Memorial, Montgomery, Alabama. LEARNING
along the route of the bus that Rosa Parks took when she refused to give up her seat. The Legacy Museum and the Lynching Memorial were both very emotional for all of us. The city of Montgomery was a lovely clean city, albeit extremely hot.
If I were to pick a significant place connected with what I teach in the Year 11 Level 1 history course, it would be the visit to Selma, Alabama and walking the Edmund Pettus Bridge in the footsteps of those African Americans who were campaigning for voters’ rights. We were led by a ‘foot soldier’ who, at the age of 15, was on the bridge on Bloody Sunday 1965. It was disconcerting to learn that voting restrictions have been put in place in some states relatively recently! Selma is quite a poor, run-down place, but the people were very hospitable and happy to spend time with us. While there, we also attended a talk by a woman who belonged to the Daughters of the Confederacy. Interestingly, this talk took place in a Confederate cemetery, and she talked about the restoration work that the ‘daughters’ now undertake in their cemeteries.
In the city of Birmingham, we visited the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, where four little girls lost their lives when the church was bombed after a civil rights march. We spent the afternoon travelling to Sumner, Mississippi, where the trial of Emmett Till’s murderers took place. Till was a teenager who was lynched in 1955 for speaking to a white girl in a shop. Needless to say, those responsible left the court free men!
During the journey to Memphis, Tennessee, we experienced a two-hour scary drive through a storm, the likes of which none of us had ever seen, and we were all very glad to arrive at our hotel. While there, we visited the place where Martin Luther King was shot. The motel has been incorporated into the National Civil Rights Museum, and the room where Martin Luther King was staying can be viewed as it was on that day. A trip to Memphis would not have been complete without a diversion to Graceland, Elvis Presley’s home.
Another significant learning experience was visiting Little Rock, Arkansas and Central High School where the Little Rock Nine students attended the first integrated school in 1956. We were fortunate to spend time with Elizabeth Eckford, who at that time, suffered much harassment outside the school when she was separated from the other eight black students. My Year 11 students had studied and written an essay on this event, so visiting the actual school gave me a real value-added experience that I can incorporate into my teaching of this topic.
We finished our tour in Dallas with a visit to Dealey Plaza where JFK was assassinated. The museum there was another excellent museum.
I am grateful to the Diocesan Heritage Foundation for contributing to this meaningful opportunity; this trip will continue to inform my teaching, enabling me to share my experiences with my history students. Black Civil Rights is a topic they find particularly interesting.
Rosa Parks Museum, Montgomery, Alabama.
