i have a dream.

Disclaimer: This is going to be an extremely long post. Feel free to just skim pictures if you don't want to read a novel! :)

For the last part of my winter break, I went on a civil rights pilgrimage through my university. Over the course of 10 days we visited 7 different cities that played key roles in the civil rights movement.

We left Friday at 4:30pm headed for Atlanta, Georgia. I was ready to just get on the bus and relax, but we ended up playing a name game for about 2 1/2 hours. It was good to get acquainted with people (there were 54 people total), but I definitely was almost hoarse afterward! We drove straight through the night and when we finally unkinked our backs we were in the South. We ate breakfast and cleaned up at a McDonald's and drove the rest of the way to Atlanta. Since we hit snow overnight, we were a little bit behind schedule. This meant that we didn't get to go to the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library. So our first thing in Atlanta was free time! I occupied the time by going to the World of Coca Cola and walking around Centennial Park.

World of Coca Cola.

Creepiest thing I've seen in my life. It blinked.

They had 64 different coke products from all over the world. Guess who tried every single one? And the absolute worst one was 'The Beverly' from Italy.

The Georgia Aquarium. I will make it back to you some day! Hopefully with Kelsey Lynn! :)

Water is Life.

Centennial Park.

Doves and Olympic rings at Centennial Park.

After our free time we checked into the hotel and had dinner. Let me say it was an understatement at how excited we were to be able to sleep lying down!

We woke up early the next morning to attend a Baptist church service at Ebenezer Baptist Church. This is the church where Dr. Martin Luther King Sr. was pastor and eventually Martin Luther King Jr. served as co-pastor. You all probably know I'm nowhere close to religious, but I loved the service. The pastor's message was all about acceptance and loving people for their differences, which I thought was a great theme to start the trip off on. Besides that the music was phenomenal, and the people even better. Talk about southern hospitality!

After church we went to see Freedom Hall, the old Ebenezer Baptist Church (the church we went to was the new, larger one across the street), the tomb of MLK Jr. and Coretta Scott King, and the home where MLK Jr. was born. It was a great morning.

Tomb of Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King with Freedom Hall in the background.

House where MLK Jr. was born and raised.

Old Ebenezer Baptist Church.

New Ebenezer Baptist Church.

We then hit the road for Birmingham, Alabama. Upon arrival we went to the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute. The museum walked through the entire civil rights movement. My favorite part was the end, where it showed recent and on-going civil rights uprisings/movements. Although we've come a long way, it's important to realize that there are still huge prejudices in the world, and the United States. I thought the museum did an excellent job of capturing this.

When we left the museum we headed across the street to the 16th Ave. Baptist church. During the movement Klans men bombed the church and four little girls were killed. Outside the church there is a memorial in their honor. Also, across from the museum is Kelly Ingram Park, which displays many statues representing parts of the movement. By the time we were done it was dark out, so we headed to dinner. We went to a buffet where I ate entirely too much food! Oh well, it was delicious! :) My favorite part of dinner was that we were randomly grouped at tables, so we got to meet more of the people on the trip with us. About a third of the trip participants were exchange students from China, and it was extremely interesting to hear their perception of the U.S. and for that matter, our perception of China.

16th St. Baptist Church.

Memorial for Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson, and Cynthia Wesley.

Kelly Ingram Park.

After dinner we checked into the hotel for the night. We heard that there was a winter 'storm' coming, but didn't think much of it being the hardy Minnesotans/Wisconsonites we were. When we woke up in the morning we found out that we were snowed in, with all of about 2 inches of snow! Ridiculous! Our driver was from WI, but Alabama actually shut down highways making it impossible for us to leave. Ellen and I spent the morning in the pool and then spent the day watching movies, relaxing and finishing off the night with happy hour in the hotel bar with everyone else. It was a good time despite the situation.

Unfortunately due to the weather we missed out on hearing a discussion at the University of Alabama, the Rosa Parks Museum, and the tour of the Alabama state capital. But the roads finally opened up, so we left early the next day for Montgomery, Alabama. The first thing we did once we arrived was a tour of the Civil Rights Memorial Center. This was by far one of my favorite things on the whole trip. The tour was very interesting and moving. Towards the end of the tour there was a wall that had cases of discrimination from the last ten years or so. You often hear that its still an issue, but when you hear individual stories it becomes much more real. In fact the center gets weekly threats and has 24-hour security because of it. The tour ended with the Wall of Tolerance. It's a 20 by 40 foot wall that shows the names of over half a million people. All visitors to the center have the opportunity to put their name on the wall, but they have to make the following pledge:

By placing my name on the Wall of Tolerance, I pledge to take a stand against hate, injustice and intolerance. I will work in my daily life for justice, equality and human rights - the ideals for which the Civil Rights martyrs died.

Civil Rights Memorial. "...until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream." --Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

My name on the Wall of Tolerance.

Other part of the memorial. It has the name of 40 different individuals who died during the civil rights movement. It ranges in time from the Brown vs. the Board of Education case to the assassination of MLK Jr. But there is a space between the first and last entry to signify that the struggle for human rights started well before the case and continues still today.

After leaving the center we walked to the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church. Martin Luther King Jr. was pastor here for 6 years, and this is the only church where he was the senior pastor. It was from this church basement that him and other movement leaders planned the Montgomery bus boycott. After the tour we had some free time, so we went to the Confederate White House and then grabbed lunch.

Dexter Ave. Baptist Church.

White House of the Confederacy.

Alabama capital with Confederate flag as seen from the White House.

I have a legit problem. I love lights!

Since we had to keep on schedule we left Montgomery only having spent an afternoon there. Our next stop was Selma, Alabama. A woman named Joanne Bland joined us to give us a bus tour of the city. Joanne is very in your face, and yet she is one of the most genuine people I've ever had the pleasure to meet. She joined the movement in 1961 at the age of eight and by the time she was 11 years old she had been arrested 13 times. She was in both the 'Bloody Sunday' and 'Turn Around Tuesday' marches over the Edmund Pettus Bridge and the eventual march to Montgomery. Joanne still lives in Selma and is a leader in the community. She took us all around Selma, as well as where the marches began. We ended the tour by walking across the bridge.

Brown Chapel AME Church.

Statue honoring MLK Jr. -- Many people dislike this monument since it states 'I had a dream' instead of 'I have a dream.'

Joanne.

Standing where the Bloody Sunday march began.

Marching across the Edmund Pettus bridge.

Every year as part of the trip, there's a service project for one of the communities that we visit. This time around it was in Selma. After our tour, Joanne took us to the McRae School, which is run by her sister.

It is a school for Preschoolers to 1st grade. The school barely has enough money to keep it running, but what they lack financially they make up for in compassion. When many of the kids leave they are able to read at a 3rd grade level at least. I was one of the few people who got to play with the kids for a little bit before dinner, and they were all sooo adorable. Maybe because I was stuck with 50 some college students I was a bit biased, but I don't think so. :) The school provided us with a wonderful home-cooked meal, and then we were put to work. Our main goal was to clean and sanitize all the things that the children were in contact with on a daily basis. The majority of my time was spent wiping down napping cots and sanitizing the 'house' set up in the kindergarten room. This meant cleaning every piece of fake food they had, along with all the play dishes. Let's just say it took a while. Luckily, I had fabulous company and the knowledge that we were doing something good to get through it.

When we were all done cleaning we gathered and Joanne told us about her trip across the bridge on 'Bloody Sunday.' It was a very emotional end to the night.

The next day we left Selma and headed to New Orleans. We stopped briefly in Gulf Port, Mississippi where we had lunch at an Italian restaurant and had a little bit of free time to walk along the beach.

Me and Ellen.

[Michelle, Megan, Katie, Tiffany, Alicia, Magan, Ellen, and Me] Stole this from Magan.

When we got to New Orleans we had the entire night to ourselves. We gathered a group of people to walk around the French Quarter, and go to Preservation Hall.

Part of the French Quarter.

Me at Preservation Hall.

After a very good show we decided to take on Bourbon Street. Our group of 5 had a fabulous night, that made the morning come far too soon!

First thing in the morning was a bus tour of New Orleans. Despite being very bumpy, it was a good tour. We got to see parts of New Orleans affected by hurricane Katrina as well as places that played a role in the civil rights movement.

Damage from the hurricane.

The busses dropped us off at the New Orleans African American Museum of Art.  It had a really good collection, and was very interesting. One of my favorite pieces was an application for the Klu Klux Klan and, hung beside it, a NAACP poster. The juxtaposition between the two was startling. Sadly, we had to rush through a lot of the museum so we could make it to our swamp tour on time.

Handmade quilt.

The only monument to slavery in New Orleans.

So as I said there was an optional swamp tour that we could go on. After rushing through the museum we had just enough time to drive the hour (and eat as many snacks as possible) to the tour site. Since the weather loved us this trip, it was naturally the coldest day they've had all year. This was great fun as we were in open boats for the tour. But despite all that it was a lot of fun! Our boat even saw some live alligators which is unusual this time of year!

Swamp. Soo pretty.

Great Blue Heron.

Our very informative tour guide.

A wild gator.

Holding the wild gator. It kept on squirming and hissing!

Swamp rat.

Albino alligator in the shop. It's worth $60, 000.

After the swamp tour I was chilled to the bone so I spent a much needed relaxing evening in the hotel room with Ellen.

The next morning we left bright and early for Little Rock, Arkansas. The first thing on our agenda was Little Rock Central High School. This is where 9 black students integrated in 1957. The school is absolutely massive! It is still a working high school, so we were only able to see the auditorium. But this is a lot more than the average person gets to see due to security. We got to talk with the current principal of the school as well as one of the coordinators of the 50th year anniversary (which was in 2007). After talking with them we walked to the memorial garden and got to walk around the visitors center, which had displays of the incident. We also got the opportunity to talk to Spirit Trickery, who is the daughter of one of the Little Rock nine.

Central High School. It's HUGE!

Our group in front of the high school.

Spirit Trickery.

A painting for the 50th year anniversary. It shows the 9 today, and in the reflection, and in 1957.

After leaving the school we went to the capital to see the memorial to the Little Rock nine. We then had free time to get dinner before heading to the hotel. By Spirit's suggestion a group of us went to Dizzy's Gypsy Bistro. It was super cute and the food was AMAZING!

The Little Rock nine memorial. It is placed so that it can be seen from the governor's office, to remind them that the governor can't go against the Supreme Court.

The next day we went to Heifer Village, which houses the headquarters for Heifer International. I absolutely fell in LOVE with this company! They work off the premise, that if you give a person a meal they eat for a day, but if you give a person an animal they can eat for a month/year/lifetime. Through 12 different cornerstones they help to bring sustainability to many impoverished areas. To top it off, the headquarters building has an LEED-platinum standing. Basically this means that they took the 'green' approach to every aspect of the building that they could. It was fabulous!

Heifer Village.

After Heifer we went to the Clinton Presidential Library. It was basically a museum of Clinton's presidency. It was interesting to look back and remember a lot of the things that happened. I learned that as a child I was a lot more aware of going-ons in the world than I thought. They also had a exhibit on Haiti, and some really creepy doll things. We finished the library early so Ellen, Becky, Jenni and I walked around downtown for a bit. This was the only day of the trip that we had gorgeous weather! I bought a pair of TOMS, which I'm obsessed with (too bad I can't wear them until it's nice out!), and then we found the local DNR building which had a bunch of fish tanks, a gator tank, and other displays.

Presidential Library.

We left Little Rock and headed for our last city of the trip, Memphis. We got in early evening, so we checked in to the hotel and then had free time for the rest of the night. Our group went to B.B. Kings. They had a band playing a mix of rock/blues and it was a lot of fun. Afterward we walked around Beale Street to the many eclectic stores.

Becky, Ellen, and Me at BB Kings. I stole this from Magan.

Beale Street.

For the last day of the trip we got a tour of Memphis. We started out at W.C. Handy's house. Many know him as "Father of the Blues." After that we went to the Martin Luther King Monument and then to Slave Haven. Slave Haven is a museum dedicated to slavery and the underground railroad. The house that the museum was in served as a hiding place for slaves, and we even got to see the secret compartments. It was very interesting. After leaving the museum we toured some of the city from the bus and then had lunch at the Arcade. This is where Elvis liked to get his peanut butter and banana sandwiches.

Elaine. Our tour guide.

Left on the Martin Luther King Jr. Monument.

The Monument.

Slave Haven. The Burkle Estate.

The Arcade Restaurant.

The last thing that we did was go to the National Civil Rights Museum. The museum is located at the Loraine Motel where MLK Jr. was assassinated. The front of the museum is still the facade of the motel as it was the day he was shot. It was rather eerie. I really enjoyed this museum. It covered the whole movement in a chronological order. I loved this because we had been to many of the places mentioned and a lot of times I knew more about a certain event than was summarized. It really showed me how much I learned through this experience and I loved that! After the main museum there was another about the conspiracy of who shot MLK Jr. It was definitely interesting.

Lorraine Motel.

Room 306.

We walked from the museum back to Beale street where we got some food and then got back on the bus for the long journey home.

Statue of Elvis on Beale St.

All in all, this trip was such an amazing opportunity. I'm so thankful that I got to go on it. I think it's so important to learn about our country's history, even the not so inspiring parts.

But if this trip has taught me any thing it's that human beings have an incredible way of rising above their circumstances to achieve whatever they put their minds to. It also taught me that by no means has equality been reached, and that it's not going to happen by just standing here. We all need to do our part to be aware of discrimination in our lives and voice our opinions of it.

Well I suppose I've written enough! I told you this was going to be a long post! :)