Travelers on the November 2016 Living Legacy Pilgrimage I was a participant in the November, 2016 Living Legacy Pilgrimage that began and ended in Memphis and visited locations in Mississippi and Alabama. I heard about the trip from two friends who had taken an earlier trip and deciding to go resulted in an amazing heartfelt experience.
Our group and staff of six shared an intense 8 days of immersing ourselves in the Civil Rights sites and history of the African American struggles for voting rights and equal rights and was concentrated in the early 1960's. We visited sites I knew about and many I had not. We spent our days listening to a variety of speakers sharing their stories of that time, singing songs of the Movement and learning the importance of music in the struggle, watching pertinent films and relating our reading to what we were seeing.
I learned of the importance of the many powerful black women during that time and also of the religious leaders of many faiths, white people who assisted, and the amazing perseverance and incredible courage of working black people. We learned how this relates to the state of racism in the U.S today and the need for all races to know this history.
Many, many times I was deeply moved as I visited sites and learned of what people did during those times. To visit a grave where a hero I had not heard of was buried, to see the driveway of a regular neighborhood where Medgar Evers was killed, to visit the campus of the University of Mississippi, or to see the ruined store where Emmett Till at 14 was "too friendly" with a white woman and then beaten to death brought the experience of the Civil Rights to a searing of the soul.
The trip began at the Civil Rights Museum in Memphis and after we parted, I returned. It was a fitting beginning and ending.
The entire experience was well planned and the days were very full. Our group melded well and we all interacted. The staff was impeccable in knowledge and well organized. They are passionate about this subject and the intense need for social justice. We all left believing - that this history needs to be known and - committed to working to use our knowledge to good purpose.
I highly recommend the Living Legacy Project with its stellar staff. I have encouraged everyone I know to simply Go!
It was an incredibly meaningful experience for me.
Barbara Sletten
November 2016 Living Legacy Pilgrimage
Our group and staff of six shared an intense 8 days of immersing ourselves in the Civil Rights sites and history of the African American struggles for voting rights and equal rights and was concentrated in the early 1960's. We visited sites I knew about and many I had not. We spent our days listening to a variety of speakers sharing their stories of that time, singing songs of the Movement and learning the importance of music in the struggle, watching pertinent films and relating our reading to what we were seeing.
I learned of the importance of the many powerful black women during that time and also of the religious leaders of many faiths, white people who assisted, and the amazing perseverance and incredible courage of working black people. We learned how this relates to the state of racism in the U.S today and the need for all races to know this history.
Many, many times I was deeply moved as I visited sites and learned of what people did during those times. To visit a grave where a hero I had not heard of was buried, to see the driveway of a regular neighborhood where Medgar Evers was killed, to visit the campus of the University of Mississippi, or to see the ruined store where Emmett Till at 14 was "too friendly" with a white woman and then beaten to death brought the experience of the Civil Rights to a searing of the soul.
The trip began at the Civil Rights Museum in Memphis and after we parted, I returned. It was a fitting beginning and ending.
The entire experience was well planned and the days were very full. Our group melded well and we all interacted. The staff was impeccable in knowledge and well organized. They are passionate about this subject and the intense need for social justice. We all left believing - that this history needs to be known and - committed to working to use our knowledge to good purpose.
I highly recommend the Living Legacy Project with its stellar staff. I have encouraged everyone I know to simply Go!
It was an incredibly meaningful experience for me.
Barbara Sletten
November 2016 Living Legacy Pilgrimage
Staff of the November 2016 Living Legacy Pilgrimage at the Fannie Lou Hamer Memorial in Ruleville, MS: John Harris, Joseph Selmon, Clarence Jones, Rev. James A Hobart, Reggie Harris, and Annette Marquis
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