Civil Rights trip to tour historic sites
Six states will be visited in total, goal to learn American history, experience past
McLean Bennett
Issue date: 10/27/08 Section: News
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The climactic shooting and the blood-drenched Civil Rights Movement that preceded it will become the central theme of a student-faculty Civil Rights Pilgrimage this January. The 11-day foray into the Deep South will include stops in at least six states, culminating with a stop in Memphis - the site of the Martin Luther King Jr. murder.
"It's so much more powerful than reading it or being told about it," said sophomore Janna Caspersen, who is helping plan this year's trip.
The university sponsored a similar trip during spring break last spring and will hold two pilgrimages this year, one in January and another during spring break, said Caspersen, who went on last year's debut pilgrimage.
She added last spring's trip was an eye-opening experience - not only to the things that took place during the Civil Rights Movement but also to the disparities that still exist in the South today.
"It just went from white neighborhoods … and then you went down a block and it was bad," Caspersen said. "That was everywhere in the South."
Like last year's trip, when students stopped in New Orleans to clean up after Hurricane Katrina, students this winter will stop in Louisiana again to help with disaster cleanup. Other stops on this winter's itinerary include Atlanta; Birmingham, Ala.; Montgomery, Ala.; Little Rock, Ark.; and Memphis, Tenn .
"To know the suffering that the African American people went through, it's just really - it was an eye-opener," said Malaysian international student Davendra Raj, who participated in last year's pilgrimage.
Raj said the experience taught him more about American history as well as gave him a new appreciation for efforts against racism, which he said remains an unspoken problem today in Malaysia.
"What I found really appealing was that if you want you can fight all this and you can - that's a way to overcome all the adversity and stuff," he said. "Like how those students managed to change the whole cities. They just defied the whole place and, you know, they got what they wanted."
The week-and-a-half trip will kick off Friday, Jan. 9 and finish on Tuesday, Jan. 20. The trip costs $300 with a $75 registration fee due in the Student Senate office beginning Nov. 10. The cost will cover lodging, transportation and tour fees, but Caspersen said students are responsible for paying for meals; she suggested bringing an additional $200 to cover the cost of food and souvenirs.
Student Senate, the Dean of Students and the UW-Eau Claire Foundation are sponsoring the trip, according to a university press release. Caspersen and Raj are both members of Senate.
"I think it's very important for students to go on these trips just so that they can see the other half of our country," Caspersen said. "You were there and you were experiencing it through pictures and exhibits instead of just reading it out of your textbook and having a teacher that probably has never seen it talk about it."
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