2019 Civil Rights Pilgrimage Itinerary

Friday- March 15:
Noon: Leave Campus
12:00 pm:  Load at ARC - 201 East Peabody Dr, Champaign, IL 61820
12:05 pm:  Load at PAR - 902 West College Ct, Urbana, IL  61801
3:00 am: Arrive in Charleston, SC
Lodging:  Fairfield Inn & Suites Charleston North/University Area


Saturday- March 16:
1:30 pm: McCleod Plantation
5:30 pm: Dinner in downtown Charleston
8:00 pm: Discussion at the hotel
Lodging:  Fairfield Inn & Suites Charleston North/University Area

Sunday - March 17:
9:00 am: Church at Mother Emmanuel AME Church
After church: Lunch in downtown Charleston
1:00 pm: Leave for Atlanta (dinner on the road)
7:00 pm: Arrive in Atlanta/Discussion at the hotel
Lodging:  Hampton Inn Atlanta- North Lake

Monday - March 18:
10:00 am: Center for Civil and Human Rights
12:30 pm: Lunch at the CNN Center
2:00 pm: King Center (MLK Birth home, Ebenezer Baptist, grave of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King)
4:00 pm: Dinner together at an Atlanta Restaurant
6:00 pm: Discussion at the hotel
Lodging:  Hampton Inn Atlanta- North Lake


Tuesday- March 19:
7:00 am: Leave for Montgomery
10:00 am:  Southern Poverty Law Center
12:00 pm: Lunch at the RCA Tower Cafeteria
2:00 pm: Dexter Parsonage
6:00 pm: Dinner
8:00 pm: Discussion at the hotel
Lodging:  Embassy Suites Montgomery

Wednesday - March 20:
9:00 am: Peace and Justice Memorial Center (EJI)
11:00am:  Legacy Museum and Memorial for Peace and Justice
12:00 pm: On the road to Selma (lunch on the road)
2:00 pm: Footprints to Freedom Tour at the National Voting Rights Museum in Selma
5:00 pm: On the road for Jackson (dinner on the road)
11:00 pm: Arrive in Jackson at 11pm
Lodging:  Fairfield Inn & Suites Jackson Clinton

Thursday - March 21:
9:00 am: Medgar Evers House
10:30 am: Mississippi Civil Rights Museum
12:30 pm: Lunch at Jackson State University
2:00 pm: Speaker (Jackson State University)
3:30pm:  Group Discussion
4:30pm: On the road for Little Rock (dinner on the road)
Lodging:  Fairfield Inn Little Rock North

Friday - March 22:
9:00 am: Little Rock Central High School Tour
12:00 pm: Lunch in downtown Little Rock
2:00 pm: Bates Museum Foundation
3:30 pm: Capitol Building for photo with Little Rock Nine statue
4:00 pm: Leave for Memphis
6:00 pm: Dinner on Beale Street
8:00 pm: Discussion at the hotel
Lodging:  Fairfield Inn & Suites Memphis

Saturday - March 23:
9:00 am: National Civil Rights Museum
12:00 pm: Lunch
2:00 pm: Stax Museum
5:00 pm: Ernest Withers Museum
6:00 pm: Dinner together at the Hotel
8:00 pm: Discussion at the hotel
Lodging:  Fairfield Inn & Suites Memphis

Sunday - March 24:
6:00 am: Leave for campus
Noon: Arrive on campus
12:00 pm:  Unload at PAR - 902 West College Ct, Urbana, IL  61801
12:15pm:  Unload at the ARC - 201 East Peabody Dr, Champaign, IL 61820

Tuesday, March 23rd

Hi guys! I can't put any pics up right now but I will come back and add them later. I just wanted to sum up some of the things we have been doing.

Saturday we mostly spent on the bus. We had dinner at a mall and I met some cool new people. We got into Georgia at a redonkulous time in the morning on Sunday (4:30 am). We hung out for a little while and then had breakfast. We changed into our church clothes at Kroger and went to Ebenezer Baptist Church. Mass was 2.5 hours long!! They were having a celebration of the 124th anniversary. We got dinner from McDonalds and then went to the Underground Mall. The mall was closed and it was raining. I ended going with a friend to her friends house and that was fun.

Monday we went to the Sweet Auburn Market and we managed to squeeze in a quick tour of the birth house of Martin Luther King Jr. That was really awesome. The house was bought by the family in like 1908 or something and some of the furniture was original. We saw the room he was born in and the room where he grew up. Then we went to Tuskeegee and checked out the Civil Rights and Multicultural Center. That place was very interesting. Next we went to the Tuskeegee University Campus. We saw the home of Booker T. Washington, the Oaks. We saw the George Caver museum and the graves of both of those men. Eastdale mall and then I went and saw Alice in Wonderland in 3D with some of my new friends.

What I took away from this....

First of all let me say that I feel everyone who has the chance to go on this trip, should.

My expectations were met and ften times

03.18.2012 – Day Three Happenings

Today was our last day in Atlanta. We began the day by attending service at Ebenezer Baptist Church; the same church that was led by MLK Sr and MLK Jr. I myself have never been to a Baptist ceremony so I was excited for the new experience. Consequently, we had arrived on their 126^th founding anniversary.  Included in their festivities was an appearance and speech from Christine King Farris, sister of MLK Jr and the longest serving member of the church. Members of our group would later get a chance to meet her in person while others of us were graced by a wave from her car. J

2nd day

On the second day of this amazing trip, we went to Ebenezer Baptist Church where MLK use to attend. We felt so welcome and it was such a great mass.

MLK Parsonage

Seeing where Dr. King Jr. lived for a brief time in his life while he was the minister of Dexter Church (I believe) was surreal. To walk in the same kitchen, living room, bedroom etc. was incredible. To know that he had an epiphany in the same kitchen I was in that pushed him to go forth with the Civil Rights Movement made me want to do more with my life. It made me look at my place in history and ask myself "What are you doing to not only better yourself, but to help your fellow peers reach there goals as well?" I whole-heartedly believed that I knew almost everything that could be known about Dr. King Jr., but this experience showed me that my textbooks could never teach me as much as the oral histories of those that knew him personally or were around him on a ono-on-one basis. I am so thankful for everyone that helped make this trip happen (s/o to January) because it has only been 3 or 4 days and we still have so much to see and if we went home today I would still deem this a more than successful trip. Viewing the window that had a bomb thrown through it and knowing that the biggest bomb did not go off, which would have surely killed Dr. King Jr., Coreeta King and their children, did not explode reinforced my faith in my Savior. It showed me that He had plans for MLK and it wasn't his time to die. Being inside the home also gave Dr. King Jr. a more humanistic appeal. Despite his last name he was always a King in my eyes. Reading about him I pictured him about 6'10'' in height because his words and the things he did in his lifetime were so monumental, but being able to understand his life as just a regular guy of a short stature made him seem even greater in my mind. His life, struggles, triumphs and accomplishments shows that despite any challenges you have to go through whatever you put your mind to and that you have a passion for can be achieved.