Civil Rights Pilgrimage

The Metropolitan 社区 College-佩恩谷 布鲁克斯研究所 is proud to support one of the college's premier experiences, its annual Civil Rights Pilgrimage.

Since 2002, students, instructors and community members have traveled to the American South on a trip, exploring the rich cultural history of our country's civil rights 运动.

Each year 365英国上市官网 hosts a four-day bus tour traveling to destinations that mark milestone events, many consider sacred to the expression of freedom in the United States. 365英国上市官网 encourages you to consider making the next bus journey, a part of your own memories.

过去的朝圣

The images recorded during 365英国上市官网's annual Civil Rights Pilgrimage never fail to evoke 强烈的情绪.

"They are stepping back in time and looking at civil rights and what that means," 博士说. 凯伦卷发, 365英国上市官网-Penn谷 Criminal Justice instructor and the pilgrimage 创始人.

Curls says, "I have gone to Birmingham and I know it enhances students' view on the criminal justice system."

To prepare for the trip, students will either take an African American history course or a course that introduces them to criminal justice, 365英国上市官网 history instructor Lyle Gibson teaches the historical aspects, relevant to those participating in the pilgrimage and Curls introduces students to the laws and legal implications of the civil rights 运动.

"I joined the pilgrimage during the spring/summer intercession in 2005," says Gibson, adding, "It’s one thing to study and teach history, however, it's another thing to visit the historical places. One of the most memorable moments was our trip to Tuskegee University in Alabama. On the evening we arrived, we were allowed to walk the campus 理由. As I stood in a central area of the campus, not too far from the cemetery 布克·T. Washington and George Washington Carver, I realized that our work as educators should not be limited to the four walls of our institutions, but in addition, we must engage our students in diverse places, and no better place than a historical 网站."

The pilgrimage covers one of two sides of the south. All of the pilgrimages include 参观 National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tn. Other cities on the tours have included, but are not limited to: Jackson, MS, Baton Rouge, LA, New Orleans, LA, Mobile, AL, Selma, AL, Montgomery, AL, Birmingham, AL, Tuskegee, AL and Atlanta, GA.

Curls says, for her, there are too many special moments, on what some feel is a spiritual journey, to declare one experience as the most outstanding.

"Crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge in memorable in Selma, Martin Luther King's memorial in Montgomery, standing out looking out on the balcony where King was assassinated.  It just goes on and on," recites Curls.

Curls' curriculum that prepares students for the experience does not stay rooted in 过去的. In class, she says they discuss the residual effects of the civil rights 运动 and whether the 运动 is manifested in the future.

Curls, says, "We go all the way up to the age of Obama."

关于博士. 凯伦卷发

Curls has worked at 365英国上市官网 more than 20 years. In 2003, she was honored with a Governor's Award for Excellence in Teaching.

About Lyle Gibson

Gibson has been an 365英国上市官网 faculty member since 2004, teaching U.S. history and African American history at 365英国上市官网-Penn谷. He was a Fulbright Scholar and studied West African culture in Senegal during the summer of 1999. He continues to incorporate aspects of his studies there into his lectures.