Journey through time to experience seeds of social change.
Interested in Inside Civil Rights 2025?
Inside Civil Rights connects people, places, and moments of the civil rights era to the legacy of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, and today’s efforts to secure racial justice and policy change. This five-day travel opportunity takes students to the heart of the Civil Rights Movement for an intensive firsthand look at how efforts to dismantle racial discrimination in the South serve as a foundation for today’s campaigns for racial and social justice.
This year’s program focuses on the importance of music and art in Memphis, TN and Little Rock, AR during the mid-20th century civil rights movement. In Memphis, we will 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. At the time of its founding in 1960, Stax Records was among the few truly integrated spaces in Memphis and much of the South. We will explore how Stax 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 then expand our reach to explore recent redevelopment in the area surrounding Stax’s location, including vibrant mural projects that celebrate and preserve the neighborhood’s identity as “Soulsville, USA.” 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.
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.
On May 7, 2025, U.S. travelers must be REAL ID compliant to board domestic flights and access certain federal facilities. Applicants must currently have a REAL ID or be able to get one prior to domestic travel.
Spring 2025
- Monday, March 31, 4-6pm — Orientation
- Monday, April 21, 6-8pm — Dinner & Film Viewing
- May 11-16 — Study Trip