US Rep John Lewis: 'Take them to the South'

US Rep John Lewis with Providence Mayor Cicilline

US Representative John Lewis of Georgia spoke at Brown University last night.

During the question and answer period, an eighth grade teacher asked for advice on teaching fourteen-year-olds about the civil rights era.

Lewis' answer: Make history come alive for them. Make it real. Go to the South. Visit Atlanta, Selma, the Edmund Pettus Bridge, the 16th Street Baptist Church...

Since 2001, Gordon's eighth graders have made an annual trip to Georgia and Alabama to see those very sights, and walk in the footsteps of Rep. Lewis, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, and Joanne Bland across Selma's Edmund Pettus Bridge.

Thanks to third grade teacher Mrs. Colt for the eyewitness report, and to Gordon parent and spouse M. Charles Bakst for the photo.