Eighth grade Civil Rights Trip
above: Gordon's Civil Rights Trip was the topic on RI PBS's Generation Rising in July 2024. Host Anaridis Rodriguez went in depth on the trip and the impact it has on young people who are learning to make change in the world.
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 and an extended tour of Selma, and (every year but one) a visit to at least one historically Black college or university.
Gordon first met with representatives of Bryan Stevenson's Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery in 2016, and Gordon has toured the National Memorial for Peace and Justice every year since it opened in 2018.
above: Leah Harrison-Lurie '16 and Maddie Lee '16 returned to Gordon to talk with faculty about the profound impact the Civil Rights Trip has had on their high school experiences
The 2025 trip
The twenty-fourth Civil Rights Trip began at 4:00am on Monday, March 3rd. Students will travelled to Atlanta, Montgomery and Selma over the next four days.
Stops this year included an insiders' tour of the Georgia State Capital with community organizers from the New Georgia Project and an opportunity to talk with elected legislators on the busiest day of the Georgia legislative calendar.
This was our second year having dinner with artist and activist Michelle Browder, with conversation about her work elevating untold stories of Montgomery history. Browder was profiled in People Magazine in 2022 and the Washington Post in 2021.
Updates from the trip were be posted to Gordon's Facebook and Instagram over the course of each day, and a daily wrapup posted to Gordon's blog each night (and linked from this page).
Updates from the trip were be posted to Gordon's Facebook and Instagram over the course of each day, and a daily wrapup posted to Gordon's blog each night (and linked from this page).
Notes from the blog
2025: day one
Notes from the day, including:
• An afternoon in Montgomery with Wanda Battle
• Mothers of Gynecology Park
• An evening in Michelle Browder's yard
2025: day two
Notes from the day, including:
• A morning at the Southern Poverty Law Center
• An afternoon in Selma with Barbara Barge
2025: day three
Notes from the day, including:
• Freedom Monument Sculpture Park
• The Legacy Museum
• National Memorial for Peace and Justice
2025: day four
Notes from the day, including:
• a day meeting with Georgia legislators at the Capitol
2024: day one
Including:
• Morehouse College
• Mothers of Gynecology Park
• An evening in Michelle Browder's yard
2024: day three
Including:
• Breakfast with Lynda Lowery
• Freedom Monument Sculpture Park
• Legacy Museum
• Dexter Avenue King Memorial
• National Memorial for Peace and Justice
2023 notes from the blog
Stories from Gordon’s Civil Rights Trip
![Finding hope in the story]([{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_1/v1743344613/gordonschoolorg/rzindjfdaumqaqekpi3u/publicsradio350_1.png","width":256},{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_2/v1743344613/gordonschoolorg/rzindjfdaumqaqekpi3u/publicsradio350_1.png","width":512},{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto/v1743344613/gordonschoolorg/rzindjfdaumqaqekpi3u/publicsradio350_1.png","width":700}])
Three perspectives on the Civil Rights Trip
![Spreading the word]([{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_1/v1741804444/gordonschoolorg/bzexfhs6ime6bckiujkl/npr350.jpg","width":256},{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto/v1741804444/gordonschoolorg/bzexfhs6ime6bckiujkl/npr350.jpg","width":350}])
Taking to the airwaves with the story of the Civil Rights Trip
![Turning knowledge into power]([{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_1/v1740086315/gordonschoolorg/afzmqk33vbx5kxxciwng/350ScreenShot2025-02-20at41252PM.png","width":256},{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto/v1740086315/gordonschoolorg/afzmqk33vbx5kxxciwng/350ScreenShot2025-02-20at41252PM.png","width":350}])
The impact of the Civil Rights Trip, on graduates and on the world
A look at how the trip has become part of the Gordon experience:
2023 A daily diary of the twenty-second annual trip
2022 A daily diary of the twenty-first annual trip
2021 A daily diary of the twentieth annual trip
2020 A daily diary of the nineteenth annual trip
2019 A daily diary of the eighteenth annual trip
2018 A daily diary of the seventeenth annual trip
2018 A recent graduate joins Lynn Bowman to discuss the trip on WPRO 630AM
2017 Eighth graders and alumni at Bryan Stevenson's presentation in Providence
2017 A daily diary of the sixteenth annual trip
2016 A daily diary of the fifteenth annual trip
2015 A daily diary, and a scrapbook of the media coverage surrounding the fiftieth anniversary of the march from Selma to Montgomery
2014 The trip, in word and photos
2013 Reports from day one, day two and day three, and a look at the trip's role in the Gordon experience
2012 A day-by-day diary of the 2012 trip
2011 A short film shows how the trip fits into the eighth grade year
2010 Joanne Bland to come to Gordon for Commencement
2010 Virtual postcards from a second grade teacher
2009 US Rep John Lewis: "Take them to the South"
2009 Video of students presenting the final projects
2008 Catching up with Joanne Bland