Inside Civil Rights

 This year’s program revolves around the theme of "The Politics of Remembrance," which asks students to consider not only what happened, but also how we remember what happened during the mid-20th century Civil Rights Movement. Moreover, through our focus on Memphis, TN and Little Rock, AR, we will consider how memory is preserved as well as how it is challenged by the investments of individuals and institutions, reflecting both the personal and political priorities that shape our society.

In Memphis, we will explore both public and private sites of commemoration that mark the impact of the Civil Rights Movement on the city. We will explore the Memphis Heritage Trail and examine the public markers that chart the history of African Americans in Memphis before, during, and after the Civil Rights Movement. We will also visit the Stax Museum of American Soul Music, the world’s only museum dedicated to preserving and promoting the legacy of Stax Records and American soul music. We will explore how Stax Records, among the few truly integrated spaces in Memphis and much of the South, served as a nexus for community collaboration and expression that fostered the talents and careers of artists such as Rufus and Carla Thomas, Booker T. & the MG’s, Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, and Isaac Hayes. We will also visit the Withers Collection Museum & Gallery, which showcases the more than 1.8 million photographs captured over the 60+ year career of Ernest Withers, most famous for his photography of the Civil Rights Movement, but also widely celebrated for his efforts to capture personal histories and the lighter sides of life in the mid-20th century south. Finally, we will visit the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Hotel to better understand the historical context for and major events of the Civil Rights movement and consider the many ways the arts and civil rights activism intersected during this period.

In Little Rock, we will explore the tumultuous 1957 desegregation of Central High School, which prompted President Eisenhower to send federal troops to enforce Brown v. Board of Education. We’ll consider how segregation continues to impact education, housing, culture and economic development today. We will then visit the historic and beautifully restored Dreamland Ballroom, located in a once-thriving African American business district in Little Rock, Arkansas, referred to as “The Line.” In its heyday, the Ballroom was an important space for religious, cultural, and artistic expression, and a source of economic growth. Finally, we will seek broader contexts and recent developments with a visit to Mosaic Templars Cultural Center, an organization dedicated preserving, interpreting, and celebrating African American history and culture in Arkansas.

The trip will culminate with student participants developing and presenting their own ideas for community spaces and programs that promote dialogue, peace, and justice by celebrating  and protecting diverse cultural expressions and fostering creativity and collaboration across difference. Students will be charged, in this final collaborative project, to reflect upon the politics of remembrance, as we consider how the legacy of the Civil Rights Movement is shaped by how we choose to engage or erase its memory.

The study trip is open by application to first-years, sophomores, and juniors who seek a greater understanding of the forces driving and resisting social change.