Civil Rights Trip, notes on day two

On the second day of the 2013 Civil Rights Trip, Gordon eighth graders went to Birmingham's 16th Street Baptist Church and met with FBI agent Tina Maldin and prosecutor Doug Jones, who helped jail one of the bombers who killed four girls there in 1963.

 

They also went to Kelly Ingram Park next door, where, in 1963, Reverends Martin Luther King, Jr., James Bevel, and Fred Shuttlesworth launched protests that helped bring the Civil Rights Movement to the nation's attention.

 

Students crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, retracing the steps marchers took in 1965 on a day that became known as Bloody Sunday.

 

By traveling to Georgia and Alabama, Gordon's eighth graders gain an appreciation for the thousands of anonymous citizen activists who marched alongside historic figures like Dr. King and made their work possible.

 

Moments like lunch at Strong's in Selma also add depth to the eighth graders' experience of the American South.

 

The videos above can also be seen as a YouTube playlist.

 

Photos and notes from the day can be found in Gordon's Twitter feed at