The site of the murder of the Rev. James Reeb in Selma
A series of events took place in Alabama and throughout the South in the 1950s and 60s that culminated in the ultimate passage of the 1964 National Civil Rights Act and the 1965 National Voting Rights Act. On this five-day, four-night pilgrimage offered in partnership with Aurora University and as a component of Aurora University's HIS 2880 History of the Black Civil Rights Movement course, you'll learn how each event, from the day in 1955 when Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, to the 1965 Selma-to-Montgomery March, helped bend the moral arc of the universe a little closer toward justice.
We'll first engage with the course material during sessions held on Aurora University's campus. Then, we'll retrace the footsteps and bus routes of that earlier period, visiting historic sites and museums, crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, and meeting in person unsung heroes and foot soldiers of the Civil Rights Movement. As lifelong learners, we’ll use history to reflect on the current day, and the outward journey to reflect on our inward lives, so that when we return home, we can apply what we have learned to make a difference in today's world.
We'll also visit the Equal Justice Initiative's Legacy Museum: From Enslavement to Mass Incarceration and National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery. The museum provides a comprehensive history of the United States with a focus on the legacies of slavery, and tells the story of racial terror lynchings in the United States.
Now is the time to learn what our heroic civil rights leaders knew as they stood in the gap, as brave veterans of the civil rights struggle have done for many decades. Come take your place on this long trail of history. Come see, sing, and learn from our civil rights forebearers how to make a new way in the struggle for justice.
Aurora University Students
For more information about this travel-based course, please contact Professors John McCormack ([email protected]) and Mary Shelden ([email protected]).
We'll first engage with the course material during sessions held on Aurora University's campus. Then, we'll retrace the footsteps and bus routes of that earlier period, visiting historic sites and museums, crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, and meeting in person unsung heroes and foot soldiers of the Civil Rights Movement. As lifelong learners, we’ll use history to reflect on the current day, and the outward journey to reflect on our inward lives, so that when we return home, we can apply what we have learned to make a difference in today's world.
We'll also visit the Equal Justice Initiative's Legacy Museum: From Enslavement to Mass Incarceration and National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery. The museum provides a comprehensive history of the United States with a focus on the legacies of slavery, and tells the story of racial terror lynchings in the United States.
Now is the time to learn what our heroic civil rights leaders knew as they stood in the gap, as brave veterans of the civil rights struggle have done for many decades. Come take your place on this long trail of history. Come see, sing, and learn from our civil rights forebearers how to make a new way in the struggle for justice.
Aurora University Students
For more information about this travel-based course, please contact Professors John McCormack ([email protected]) and Mary Shelden ([email protected]).
Pilgrimage Staff
This Living Legacy Pilgrimage and ETA provide four staff on this journey to provide education, music, and tour management. They are:
Civil Rights Movement Educator
The Living Legacy Project will provide two Civil Rights Movement educators who will guide you through the Pilgrimage experience.
The Rev. Dr. Gordon Gibson, secretary of the Living Legacy Project, has been involved in organizing and leading pilgrimages to civil rights sites since 2004. During the first weeks after Gordon was ordained, he was in Selma, Alabama, taking part in early phases of the 1965 voting rights campaign there. He also brings his experience of living in Mississippi 1969-1984 when he was the Unitarian Universalist minister in the state. For seven of those years he was also an investigator for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. In retirement, Judy and Gordon Gibson live in Knoxville, Tennessee. Gordon is the author of Southern Witness: Unitarians and Universalists in the Civil Rights Era, an engaging account of the roles that UU individuals and congregations played in the civil rights movement in the South in the 1950s and '60s. Gordon currently serves as a member of the Board and as the LLP historian.
Music Educator
Because the Living Legacy Project recognizes how important the music of the Civil Right Movement was to its success, every Living Legacy Pilgrimage is staff by a phenomenal music educator and song leader, so be prepared to sing!
Reggie Harris, who serves as co-president of the Living Legacy Project, has earned distinction as one of the foremost interpreters and song leaders of the music of the Underground Railroad and the Modern Civil Rights movement. With a passion for peace and justice, Reggie travels worldwide using his gifts to share hope and raise awareness of human rights in the spirit of Dr Martin Luther King’s beloved community. Visit reggieharrismusic.com for more about his music. Reggie currently serves as co-president of the Board and Director of Music. |
Re-enacting the march over the Edmund Pettus Bridge
ETA Tour Manager: TBAA tour manager (TBA) from Educational Travel Adventures will be a part of the team to make sure that everything runs as smoothly as possible. The tour manager will manage the meals, hotels, bus schedule, museum entrance, and all the other logistic details of the trip.
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