Walking in the footsteps of Civil Rights leaders

My experience on the history based trip: Sojourn to the Past.

BY ZORAYA KING Opinion Editor

In my mind, the Civil Rights Movement remained in the words in my history books: limited, brief and stale. But once our Sojourn class arrived in Alabama, the words flew off the page and came alive.

Focusing on the Civil Rights Movement, former Capuchino history teacher Jeff Steinberg created the Sojourn Project in 1999 and began taking groups of students in the Bay Area around the South. Throughout the trip, students travel to historical landmarks where Civil Rights history took place to honor those whose lives were taken as they fought for equal rights among races. Sojourners get the opportunity to meet the living family members of deceased Civil Rights leaders who experienced the stories in our textbooks; with this unique connection, students are able to better engage with their country’s history and develop a deeper understanding of the institutionalized racism that is rooted in our world.

Kicking off the trip, as Minnijean Brown Trickey of the Little Rock Nine entered our hotel conference room in Birmingham, a roar of applause from our group of 60 Sojourners echoed throughout the building. Trickey talked about her story as one of the first black students to integrate into an all-white high school, her life afterwards, the activism she continues to pursue and her hopes for the future in the youth of America. Immediately, I was inspired and able to exist in the moment and realize how close her story is to the present; unlike how our school teaches it, Civil Rights history is not in the distant past.

Trickey remained with our group for the duration of the trip, commonly known as the “Grandmother of Sojourn.” Though she is such a significant figure in our country’s history, Trickey was more like a friend or family member to us students. I recall one night on the trip when I invited Trickey to sit at a table with my group of friends for dinner.The lot of us engaged in an active conversation about who we are, how our stories are similar in some ways and what injustices in our community we want to change. I was able to see these historical figures from my social studies classes as real people and connect with them on a personal level– a once in a lifetime experience that I will never take for granted.

Sojourn, no one cries alone.” Throughout these painful moments, the true message of the trip began to reveal itself.

On D-day, we knew that either we were going to live or we were going to die, and we didn’t care

Growing up I felt that race and ethnicity was a subject that was meant to be untouched; the lack of proper education and exposure I received perpetuated the institutionalized racism in this country, broadening the divide between people. Luckily in recent years I have unlearnt these things and began to actively fight against the prejudice that this country has bred into my mind through leading the Sequoia Gender and Sexuality Alliance (GSA) and Young Feminists Club (YFC); though like Steinberg, I knew that there was still work in me and in our world to be done.

Though painful, Sojourn helped me grieve and let me open up to others about the struggles that I face. Two weeks before the trip, I lost my uncle whom I was very close to, and during the journey his funeral was held back home. Though far away from my family, I was able to grieve on the day of his ceremony; we visited the grave of Freedom Summer worker, James Chaney, and we met the daughter he never had the chance to meet, Angela Lewis. She told me that I can “take [my] grief and use it to help someone else who needs it.”

The Sojourn Project gave us students an opportunity to dig deeper into the past, but also to dig deep into ourselves. Sojourn held up a mirror to my own soul and confronted me with questions about how I treat people in my life, how I treat myself and what I am going to do about the injustice that I witness back home.

Reject the social conditioning that you have been exposed to and do the right thing

Never would I have thought that this trip would have affected me in the way that it did. For the students on the trip, we quickly realized that Sojourn is a trip that is based on history, but is truly focused on active change and power in youth, and well as developing the importance of humanity and kindness in our world. Seen through the incredible grace, bravery and

Needless to say, Sojourn is not a trip for the lighthearted. It visits the trauma of others and allows you to connect with the harsh stories being told. In a personal sense, Sojourn was emotionally draining, but in the best way possible. There was support from everyone on the trip, from the students to the speakers themselves, it is often said that “on

To read more about Reena Evers, Gwen Webb and Minnijean Brown Trickey, visit our website at ravenreport.org incomparable kindness from all the Civil Rights leaders, students, staff and teachers on the trip, I can honestly say that Sojourn is for everyone and it is an opportunity that cannot be missed.