Day one of the 2026 Civil Rights Trip

The twenty-fifth Civil Rights Trip began this morning at 3:30am.
 

The chaperones included new faces and longtime veterans of the trip.
 

The students brought fresh eyes and a deep understanding of social justice movements.
 

Most recently, they had been studying the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, and the sites and stories of the movement form the backbone of this trip.
 

But they understand that history in context of other dramatic narratives in US history, thanks to the work of their teachers in years past: the impact of Columbus’ arrival, the relationship of the European colonists and the indigenous people of North America, the genius and the contradictions of the people who formed our nation, the changemakers and activists who enlivened American culture in the 19th and 20th centuries, the importance of immigrants in our nation’s story.
 

They will also see their study of slavery, Reconstruction, racial violence, Jim Crow segregation and mass incarceration drawn together in a bold way.
 

These are histories they learned at Gordon that will be echoed all week long.
 

The people they will meet will be storytellers, scholars and memorial builders.
 

These people are deeply invested in documenting the truth about American history, in ways that will make it undeniable and unforgettable.
 

Their goal: to inspire a new generation of changemakers, creators and activists, one that can face the truth bravely while retaining a spark of hope and joy.
 

A first connection between past and present came when we were reconnected with motor coach driver Herb Brown, who was Gordon’s partner throughout the first two decades of the trip.
 

After meeting our students, and explaining motor coach safety and manners, Mr. Brown spoke from the heart about what this trip has meant for him, and his high expectations for what this bus full of eighth graders will do to help our country in the decades to come.
 

And then, he drove them to Atlanta's Centennial Park for a twenty-minute recess. 
 

Mr. Brown has learned what Gordon has known since 1910.
 

Children need to work hard, but they need to play hard too.
 

Get them out into the fresh air.
 

Let them enjoy one another.
 

Let them practice being playful.
 

Have them get their heart rates up and their knees dirty.
 

Then, they’ll be ready to meet your highest expectations.
 

Dr. David Rice was Gordon’s host at Morehouse College, the first official stop of the trip.
 

He is a professor of psychology with a message that the eighth graders found themselves talking about for the rest of the afternoon.
 

“A typical take on psychology,” he explained, “would look at pathologies and talk about how to fix them. I am taking a more asset-based approach: what are the strengths of a particular person or culture? What is going well? And how can we sustain and amplify them?”
 

And walking through Morehouse with Dr. Rice, you could see him reflecting and amplifying that community’s strength at every turn. 
 

We passed a philosophy professor who treated us with a mini-lesson in Howard Thurman.
 

We met two of his students - a business major and a math major - who found themselves explaining that every major at Morehouse is really a social justice major.
 

The key, they explained, is that all Morehouse students are invested in the greater good. And what is social justice if not that?
 

And we met an administrator who gave a quick presentation on the importance of disagreeing with grace and compassion.
 

Seeing Morehouse through Dr. Rice’s eyes meant celebrating the history but keeping an eye on the future.
 

A basic case study in the past and the future: we passed by a TV crew filming the reboot of A Different World on campus. If you know you know.
 

The past and the future also swirled together in the King Chapel.
 

The rooms were filled with portraits of legends, of the past, present and future, ranging from Frederick Douglass to Dr. Rice himself.
 

He talked of his undergraduate mentor, who is over one hundred years old and still returns his texts.
 

He talked of his son, who he hopes will matriculate at Morehouse in September.
 

And he pointed out how his pose in his portrait echoes the one W. E. B. Du Bois held in his.
 

It was clear that he saw himself participating in this tradition of seeking the greater good.
 

It was also clear that, like Herb Brown earlier in the day, he was inviting the students to join him in that work.
 

After a drive to Montgomery, Alabama, Gordon spent the rest of the day in the world of artist and activist Michelle Browder. 
 

The group met her in front of the former offices of Dr. J. Marion Sims, known as “the father of modern gynecology.” 
 

Dr. Sims performed groundbreaking research on enslaved women, in cruel conditions, without their consent. 
 

Ms. Browder just bought this building.
 

She’s got a lot going on.
 

Dr. Sims’ experiments on enslaved women were memorialized in a painting by Robert Thom, part of a series he did in the 1950s and 1960s called “Great Moments in Medicine.”
 

Browder and her team are working with the University of Michigan, which owns the painting, to appropriately recontexturalize the painting on the site.
 

Next door, she has two stories of offices with teams working on finding a way forward from this dark history by working to support uninsured women, medical practitioners, midwives and doulas.
 

The name of the movement, “DIRE: dignity, respect, integrity, empathy,” conveys both the urgency and the optimism of the work.
 

Like Mr. Brown and Dr. Rice, Ms. Browder expressed skepticism about current political trends.
 

But, like the two of the them, she also placed a great deal of hope in the next generation: “I want to apologize for the state of the world, but I am encouraged knowing that you all are the next line of defense against despair.”
 

When Gordon was asked to add its name the list of allies, there was no hesitation.
 

It was a short hike to Browder’s third site.
 

This spot housed Anarcha, Lucy and Betsy, three memorials she built honoring three of the victims of Sims’s work. 
 

Here, the line between the uplifting and the frightening was especially blurry.
 

Our guide was specific and demanding as he went over the challenges that lie ahead for those of us pursuing the greater good. 
 

But you can dance at Ms. Browder’s revolution.
 

Joy, imagination and love are essential ingredients of her vision for a better world.
 

And so she and her team completed our visit by giving us karaoke and barbecue chicken in the house behind the monuments. 
 

It sealed our membership in her growing community and gave us fuel for the rest of our journey.

 

Ahead to day two

Many more photos from day one

More on the Civil Rights Trip