Day 9, 10, and 11

May 14^th

We started the day with a big family brunch. The leaders Tadeu, Emma, Tyler, and Andriana cooked for the immersion participants. After brunch we went to the school where Father Manuel and Michelle were waiting for us with all the children of the school. Father Manuel introduced us individually and thanked us as we grabbed a hat from Michelle and gave each of us a hug. The school principal, teachers, and students then said a prayer for us and asked that we remember them in our travels on the trip and afterward. We then hopped in the cars and drove five hours to Memphis, Tennessee, where we are staying the next three evenings.

May 15^th

The Lorraine Motel

Today was unexpectedly very emotional. We went to the National Civil Rights Museum assuming it was just another museum and we were professionals at this point in the trip. We were very wrong. The National Civil Rights Museum is located at the Lorraine Motel, where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was staying when he was assassinated. Upon entering the museum there is an exhibit on the history of slavery in the United States. The exhibit was very detailed and included a replica of a slave owner selling his slave and the conditions of the slave ships on the middle passage (the route from Africa to America). The attention to detail and amount of reading was impeccable and replicated in every exhibit of this museum. Each room explored different aspects of the history of Africans and African Americans in the United States including slavery, the abolitionist movement, voter’s rights, the Civil War, the Emancipation Proclamation, Jim Crow laws, the Civil Rights movement, Women’s suffrage and other protests in the 1970s, the sanitation strike, and finally ending with the death of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. We spent up to four hours in the museum (and that was rushing through it). This was easily the best museum I’ve been to.

Bathroom window Ray shot from

We then went across the street and enjoyed a picnic of cheese and crackers in the grass. Afterward, we went to the museum located in the boarding house that James Earle Ray shot Dr. King from. It was very interesting to see the evidence used in the testimony such as the gun and bullet. There were also several conspiracy theories on whether Ray worked alone or was hired by the FBI.

Beale Street

Carissa, Bella, Nichole, Abby, and Katie on the riverfront

After visiting the second museum our group split off. Some people went to the riverfront and explored the World Championship BBQ Festival. They also explored the infamous Beale street, known for its people watching and BBQ. The other group went to the Mason Temple, the site in Memphis where MLK performed his final and famous “I’ve been to the mountain top” speech the night before his assassination. The temple was empty so we sat in the front row while listening to the entire 42-minute speech. Sitting there was a very eerie and spiritual experience. King discusses death in this speech and that he is all right with dying, as though he were anticipating his death and writing his eulogy. After this amazing experience we went to Beale street to enjoy the famous Memphis BBQ.

-Elisha Codding

May 16^th

We started today out on a tour of three Memphis sites. The first was LeMoyne-Owen College. LeMoyne is a historically Black college. It has served as an important contributor to the local community. We had an unexpected campus “tour” that included the library, its famous mural, and their student center. Although small, the faculty and staff seemed proud of their school. The next stop was a park boasting a large equestrian rider. At first glance it seemed impressive and encouraging. However, our tour guide told us the story of Nathan Forrest, who was a slave owner and started the Ku Klux Klan after slavery was abolished. It was not mentioned how late in life he changed his mentality towards African Americans. It is hopeful that although someone can harbor such hatred towards others, one can experience a change of heart. It brings up the questions of when we forgive someone of their past actions and how we change ourselves despite our actions.

LeMoyne-Owen College

-Carissa Luebbering

The next stop on our Memphis tour was the Kellogg factory. We were drawn to this unlikely site because of an ongoing battle over contracts, resulting in a seven-month lockout for some of the company’s most loyal employees. Although the company that several of these men had served for many decades was treating them as expendable, their spirits were high. They were eager to discuss their labor movement, the media’s involvement and the similarities to other movements we learned about, specifically, the Memphis sanitation workers strike of the 1960s.

After our tour, we headed to Memphis’s “Knowledge Is Power Program” or KIPP School. One of the largest charter school programs in the country, KIPP is highly focused on college graduation. Although open enrollment, KIPP opens schools in low socio-economic areas, allowing unique opportunities for students who may not have pursued post-secondary education otherwise. We were shown around campus by Sonya Fleck, director of “IPP Through College,” a program that supports students all the way through college graduation. After we heard KIPP’s mission, the group had the opportunity to split into two groups and get a more in-depth look at the elementary and middle school experiences at KIPP. The elementary group got a chance to hear from Grace, an impassioned teacher whose kindergarten and first graders were some of KIPP’s highest achieving students. The middle school group got the opportunity to hear from Andy about his experiences teaching with KIPP as well as Teach for America, eventually joining the middle school students for a popsicle party, complete with vocal entertainment courtesy of Rodrigo.

-Nichole Hay