We are less than five weeks away from our initial gathering in Birmingham on Saturday, October 19, 2019. Please read this bulletin carefully for travel information and reading/viewing resources to help you make the most of our week together. All the details are coming together, and I know we will have an incredible journey. I can’t wait!
Staff
We expect to have a total of forty-eight people on the bus, including six Living Legacy Pilgrimage staff:
We’re coming from fourteen states ranging from California to Massachusetts and DC. Although our average age hovers around 64, we range in age from 32 to 86!
Roommates and Roster
Here is a roster of everyone who will be on the trip, their email addresses, and home cities and states.
The roster also includes roommate assignments. If you’ve asked us to assign you a roommate, we encourage you to reach out to the person so you can get to know each other a little. Suggested topics: Are you a night-owl or a morning person? Do you sleep through anything or wake at the drop of a button? Do you watch TV or prefer it off? Do you enjoy engaging in conversation after a long day or is your idea of winding down total peace and quiet? Answers to these questions, and a bit about you and your interest in the Pilgrimage will help to smooth the way as you share living space for the week.
What to Expect on the Pilgrimage
Except for our first two nights, we’ll be staying at a different hotel, in a different city, every night (see more about packing below). Over the course of the week, we’ll stay in:
We’ll start each day with breakfast in the hotels. We’ll depart the hotel by 8:30 or 9:00 depending on the day (we’ll make sure you know what time to be on board), so you’ll need to have your bag out there before that to get it loaded. On the bus, we’ll share a morning centering meditation or reading and maybe join in some singing. We’ll orient you to the day, then, depending on where we’re going, we might give you some history, point out sights along the route, tell some stories, show a video, or let you sit quietly or give you time to get to know your seatmate.
We’ll be on and off the bus a lot, but don’t worry if you have challenges with steps, we’ll assist you, so you’ll be able to get on and off as much as you want with little problem. We have no strenuous hikes planned and walking is generally pretty easy. The most challenging walk is across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma. We’ll give you more information about as we get close, and if you decide it’s too much. you can ride across in the bus.
Over the course of each day, we’ll be traveling to significant sites in the Civil Rights Movement. Some museums we’ll visit are well-financed and some locally grown. Some of our stops will be at small town or country churches where veterans of the Movement will share their personal stories with us. Some stops will be at sacred sites, including places like Brown Chapel in Selma and the ruins of the store in Money, Mississippi, where Emmet Till was targeted for murder.
No matter where we are, we’ll do our best to put what happened there in context for you and help you connect with the real stories that made the Civil Rights Movement such a powerful force for change in our country.
Most days, we’ll have lunches and dinners in restaurants/cafeterias, or we’ll have them catered for us at various stops. On couple of our longer travel days, we’ll eat our box lunches on the bus, so we can get to our next stop. Whenever possible, our food will be prepared by veterans of the Movement.
Your job on this Pilgrimage is to immerse yourself in the experience and not worry about anything else. Your staff will make sure we get to where we need to be. Although we have an itinerary, we know not everything will happen as planned. Some of the best experiences we’ve had on the many Pilgrimages we’ve now hosted have happened spontaneously, like meeting the Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, just months before he died, and being able to thank him in person for his courageous life. That’s the wonder of this experience!
Lodging in Birmingham
We will be staying at the Holiday Inn Birmingham-Airport, 5000 Richard Arrington Jr Blvd N, Birmingham, AL 35212, 877-859-5095. If you plan to arrive early, you’ll want to reserve a room directly with the hotel for those nights, give them the group name “LIV” and the rate of $114. If you have any problem reserving at this rate, please let me know.
You might also choose to shop around at general hotel websites because, if you want to go that route, you could possibly get a better online rate.
If you plan to stay in Birmingham the night of Saturday, October 26, please let me as soon as possible that you’ll be needing a room that night. Because of a major football game, rooms are at a premium. We are working to identify a hotel than can accommodate us, and I’ll let you know as soon as we do.
To avoid this issue, you might consider flying out of Memphis on Saturday, October 26, rather than returning to Birmingham. More about that below.
Travel
If you’re flying into Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport (BHM), we suggest doing a little research into the amazing life of Fred Shuttlesworth. We’ll be visiting his former church on Sunday morning!
The Holiday Inn Birmingham-Airport offers shuttle service from the airport, which is less than 10 minutes from the hotel. Just call the hotel at 877-859-5095 when you arrive, and they’ll come to pick you up.
If you’re driving to Birmingham, be sure to let the front desk know when you check in so you can get a parking pass for your car.
If you need a ride from the bus or train station, please hail a local cab or arrange a ridesharing service.
If you’re leaving from Birmingham to return home, remember to not schedule any flight from the Birmingham Airport before 6:00 pm on Saturday. It’s an almost four-hour trip from Memphis to Birmingham so we probably won’t arrive at the Birmingham airport until at least 4:30 that afternoon so give yourself enough time to not miss your flight.
If you plan to leave from Memphis on Saturday, October 26, you can schedule a flight any time after 2 pm. We will be finishing up at the National Civil Rights Museum around noon and heading back to Birmingham. If several people are flying out of Memphis, we might be able to drop you off on our way out of town. Otherwise, you can take a cab from the Museum.
Packing and Weather
We expect that the temperatures should be in the 70s during the day and 50s at night with lots of sunshine, i.e., PERFECT! However, we all know that could change in an instant. We suggest you pack lightly layered clothing, a sweater and rain jacket, for example, to keep you comfortable in any weather we might experience.
Sunday, October 20th is the only day you will need “church clothes.” We will be attending services at Bethel Baptist Church of Collegeville, the Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth’s former church, and then having lunch and a program at Historic Bethel Baptist Church. We ask that you dress up (at least a little) for the occasion. If you want to leave your dress clothes in Birmingham, you're welcome to put them in my van (as long as you remember to claim them when we get back to Birmingham. If you don’t Diversity Thrift in Richmond will receive a nice donation!).
For the remainder of the trip, plan to wear comfortable clothes and good walking shoes. You will have to lug your suitcase into the hotel and back again every day, so we suggest you pack lightly. We don't care if you wear the same outfit more than once (as long as you shower regularly!).
Those of us who have spent a lot of time on the bus have found that a small day pack or tote bag works well in the overhead bin or on the floor by your feet to hold the stuff you might need during the day.
Also, please remember to pack a water bottle. We will have some bottled water for those who need it but, for the environment's sake, we don't want to purchase too much of it. We'll also have some snacks on the bus but bring whatever you know you'll want (or need) with you, especially if you have dietary concerns, so you're not disappointed that we didn't get your favorite kind.
Advance Reading/Viewing
Please review some of the books, films, and links on the resource pages on our website.
For deeper background about the history of racial discrimination in this country, we also encourage you to read Stamped from the Beginning by Ibram X. Kendi or The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism by Edward E. Baptist. Both are excellent histories of the development of racism in the US.
Social Media/Writing
If you're into social media, or even if you're not and you'd like to learn, we appreciate all the tweeting, Facebooking, Instagramming, blogging, and whatever other social media you want to share. We invite you to document and photograph (although we say more about this in our orientation) as much of your journey as you want, from packing until you return home again, for the folks back home, for future pilgrims, and for your own memories. Please use hashtag #LLP19 so we can identify your posts and share them on the Living Legacy Pilgrimage and Coming to the Table platforms.
That's all for now. Questions? Feel free to contact us at [email protected].
Annette
Annette Marquis
Living Legacy Project
Administrative Coordinator
Staff
We expect to have a total of forty-eight people on the bus, including six Living Legacy Pilgrimage staff:
- Reggie Harris, musician and LLP musical director
- Seanan Holland, staff
- Annette Marquis, Pilgrimage coordinator
- Jan Sneegas, staff
- Joseph Selmon, tour guide
- Roy Young, driver
We’re coming from fourteen states ranging from California to Massachusetts and DC. Although our average age hovers around 64, we range in age from 32 to 86!
Roommates and Roster
Here is a roster of everyone who will be on the trip, their email addresses, and home cities and states.
The roster also includes roommate assignments. If you’ve asked us to assign you a roommate, we encourage you to reach out to the person so you can get to know each other a little. Suggested topics: Are you a night-owl or a morning person? Do you sleep through anything or wake at the drop of a button? Do you watch TV or prefer it off? Do you enjoy engaging in conversation after a long day or is your idea of winding down total peace and quiet? Answers to these questions, and a bit about you and your interest in the Pilgrimage will help to smooth the way as you share living space for the week.
What to Expect on the Pilgrimage
Except for our first two nights, we’ll be staying at a different hotel, in a different city, every night (see more about packing below). Over the course of the week, we’ll stay in:
- Birmingham - Oct 19 and 20
- Prattville (Montgomery), AL - Oct 21
- Marion, AL - Oct 22
- Meridian, MS - Oct 23
- Ridgeland (Jackson), MS - Oct 24
- Memphis, TN, - Oct 25
We’ll start each day with breakfast in the hotels. We’ll depart the hotel by 8:30 or 9:00 depending on the day (we’ll make sure you know what time to be on board), so you’ll need to have your bag out there before that to get it loaded. On the bus, we’ll share a morning centering meditation or reading and maybe join in some singing. We’ll orient you to the day, then, depending on where we’re going, we might give you some history, point out sights along the route, tell some stories, show a video, or let you sit quietly or give you time to get to know your seatmate.
We’ll be on and off the bus a lot, but don’t worry if you have challenges with steps, we’ll assist you, so you’ll be able to get on and off as much as you want with little problem. We have no strenuous hikes planned and walking is generally pretty easy. The most challenging walk is across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma. We’ll give you more information about as we get close, and if you decide it’s too much. you can ride across in the bus.
Over the course of each day, we’ll be traveling to significant sites in the Civil Rights Movement. Some museums we’ll visit are well-financed and some locally grown. Some of our stops will be at small town or country churches where veterans of the Movement will share their personal stories with us. Some stops will be at sacred sites, including places like Brown Chapel in Selma and the ruins of the store in Money, Mississippi, where Emmet Till was targeted for murder.
No matter where we are, we’ll do our best to put what happened there in context for you and help you connect with the real stories that made the Civil Rights Movement such a powerful force for change in our country.
Most days, we’ll have lunches and dinners in restaurants/cafeterias, or we’ll have them catered for us at various stops. On couple of our longer travel days, we’ll eat our box lunches on the bus, so we can get to our next stop. Whenever possible, our food will be prepared by veterans of the Movement.
Your job on this Pilgrimage is to immerse yourself in the experience and not worry about anything else. Your staff will make sure we get to where we need to be. Although we have an itinerary, we know not everything will happen as planned. Some of the best experiences we’ve had on the many Pilgrimages we’ve now hosted have happened spontaneously, like meeting the Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, just months before he died, and being able to thank him in person for his courageous life. That’s the wonder of this experience!
Lodging in Birmingham
We will be staying at the Holiday Inn Birmingham-Airport, 5000 Richard Arrington Jr Blvd N, Birmingham, AL 35212, 877-859-5095. If you plan to arrive early, you’ll want to reserve a room directly with the hotel for those nights, give them the group name “LIV” and the rate of $114. If you have any problem reserving at this rate, please let me know.
You might also choose to shop around at general hotel websites because, if you want to go that route, you could possibly get a better online rate.
If you plan to stay in Birmingham the night of Saturday, October 26, please let me as soon as possible that you’ll be needing a room that night. Because of a major football game, rooms are at a premium. We are working to identify a hotel than can accommodate us, and I’ll let you know as soon as we do.
To avoid this issue, you might consider flying out of Memphis on Saturday, October 26, rather than returning to Birmingham. More about that below.
Travel
If you’re flying into Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport (BHM), we suggest doing a little research into the amazing life of Fred Shuttlesworth. We’ll be visiting his former church on Sunday morning!
The Holiday Inn Birmingham-Airport offers shuttle service from the airport, which is less than 10 minutes from the hotel. Just call the hotel at 877-859-5095 when you arrive, and they’ll come to pick you up.
If you’re driving to Birmingham, be sure to let the front desk know when you check in so you can get a parking pass for your car.
If you need a ride from the bus or train station, please hail a local cab or arrange a ridesharing service.
If you’re leaving from Birmingham to return home, remember to not schedule any flight from the Birmingham Airport before 6:00 pm on Saturday. It’s an almost four-hour trip from Memphis to Birmingham so we probably won’t arrive at the Birmingham airport until at least 4:30 that afternoon so give yourself enough time to not miss your flight.
If you plan to leave from Memphis on Saturday, October 26, you can schedule a flight any time after 2 pm. We will be finishing up at the National Civil Rights Museum around noon and heading back to Birmingham. If several people are flying out of Memphis, we might be able to drop you off on our way out of town. Otherwise, you can take a cab from the Museum.
Packing and Weather
We expect that the temperatures should be in the 70s during the day and 50s at night with lots of sunshine, i.e., PERFECT! However, we all know that could change in an instant. We suggest you pack lightly layered clothing, a sweater and rain jacket, for example, to keep you comfortable in any weather we might experience.
Sunday, October 20th is the only day you will need “church clothes.” We will be attending services at Bethel Baptist Church of Collegeville, the Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth’s former church, and then having lunch and a program at Historic Bethel Baptist Church. We ask that you dress up (at least a little) for the occasion. If you want to leave your dress clothes in Birmingham, you're welcome to put them in my van (as long as you remember to claim them when we get back to Birmingham. If you don’t Diversity Thrift in Richmond will receive a nice donation!).
For the remainder of the trip, plan to wear comfortable clothes and good walking shoes. You will have to lug your suitcase into the hotel and back again every day, so we suggest you pack lightly. We don't care if you wear the same outfit more than once (as long as you shower regularly!).
Those of us who have spent a lot of time on the bus have found that a small day pack or tote bag works well in the overhead bin or on the floor by your feet to hold the stuff you might need during the day.
Also, please remember to pack a water bottle. We will have some bottled water for those who need it but, for the environment's sake, we don't want to purchase too much of it. We'll also have some snacks on the bus but bring whatever you know you'll want (or need) with you, especially if you have dietary concerns, so you're not disappointed that we didn't get your favorite kind.
Advance Reading/Viewing
Please review some of the books, films, and links on the resource pages on our website.
For deeper background about the history of racial discrimination in this country, we also encourage you to read Stamped from the Beginning by Ibram X. Kendi or The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism by Edward E. Baptist. Both are excellent histories of the development of racism in the US.
Social Media/Writing
If you're into social media, or even if you're not and you'd like to learn, we appreciate all the tweeting, Facebooking, Instagramming, blogging, and whatever other social media you want to share. We invite you to document and photograph (although we say more about this in our orientation) as much of your journey as you want, from packing until you return home again, for the folks back home, for future pilgrims, and for your own memories. Please use hashtag #LLP19 so we can identify your posts and share them on the Living Legacy Pilgrimage and Coming to the Table platforms.
That's all for now. Questions? Feel free to contact us at [email protected].
Annette
Annette Marquis
Living Legacy Project
Administrative Coordinator
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