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The Gordon School

Eighth grade Civil Rights Trip

above: Leah Harrison-Lurie '16 and Maddie Lee '16 returned to Gordon last spring to talk with faculty about the profound impact the Civil Rights Trip has had on their high school experiences

Gordon’s Civil Rights Trip is the culmination of a social justice curriculum that begins in Gordon’s youngest grades, and it’s an experience that has shaped the lives of hundreds of Gordon graduates since 2002.

Over four days, they visit historic sites in Georgia and Alabama, and meet with people who are making change in the present day. On their return to Rhode Island, students start making positive change in their own communities, partnering with local agencies in a full time, four-week service learning project.

The itinerary has been different every year. It has always included the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, an extended tour of Selma, and a visit to at least one historically Black college or university.

Since 2016, Gordon has met with representatives of Bryan Stevenson's Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, and toured the National Memorial for Peace and Justice every year since it opened in 2018.

The 2023 trip

The twenty-second Civil Rights Trip began at 4am on Monday, April 17th. Students traveled to Atlanta, Montgomery and Selma over the next four days.

Stops this year included a meeting with voting rights advocates from the New Georgia Project, who generously shared their time as they work to support access to voting in the wake of the 2020 election. 
 
New stops this year included a tour of Montgomery that integrates some frequently overlooked sites from Black history in Montgomery.

Updates from the trip were posted to Gordon's Facebook and Instagram over the course of each day, and a daily wrapup was posted to Gordon's blog each night (and linked from this page).

2023 notes from the blog

2023: day one

Notes on day one
Including:
• Morehouse College
• A tour of Montgomery's hidden history
• The Anarcha Lucy Betsey Monument

2023: day two

Notes on day two
Including:
• Southern Poverty Law Center
• Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church
• Dexter Parsonage
• The First Baptist Church's Caring Center

2023: day three

Notes on day three
Including:
• The Equal Justice Initiative’s Legacy Museum
• The National Memorial for Peace and Justice
• Selma with Ms. Lynda Lowery

2023: day four

Notes on day four
Including:
• The New Georgia Project
• A surprise at the CNN Center

2022 notes from the blog

2022: day one

Notes on day one
Including:
• Alabama State University
• Montgomery’s Rosa Parks Museum
• A debrief on the Capitol lawn

2022: day two

Notes on day two
Including:
• the Southern Poverty Law Center
• an afternoon in Selma

2022: day three

Notes on day three
Including:
• The National Memorial for Peace and Justice
• The Equal Justice Initiative's Legacy Museum
• Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church

2022: day four

Notes on day four
Including:
• The New Georgia Project

Stories from Gordon’s Civil Rights Trip