Afro 298 Third Assignment

So far the Civil Rights Pilgrimage has been awesome. I really enjoyed the museum in Greensboro, North Carolina. I did not know much about the Greensboro four so I was able to see how heroic they truly were. I really thought it was powerful at the beginning of the tour when they were showing the American flag with the words "all men are created equal" and then turned the lights on and showed a slave auctioning board behind the words. It shows how hypocritical America has been since its founding.

The time we spent at the Beloved Community was also really inspiring. I was shocked that this important story that happened to the people of Greensboro was not told at the museum in Greensboro. So many pieces of history are hidden and not acknowledged, and the tragedy in Greensboro is one of the missing pieces. Something that really touched me about the event was when the woman speaking said that this story is not uncommon and we will hear it many times across the South. She is right. The same story is told in different parts of the South, the tragedies just happened to different courageous people.

In Atlanta, the church service was really interesting for me. I have never been to a church before, so I did not know what to expect. When I walked in, the energy of the church was electric and everyone was so joyous. I am not a religious person, but I really appreciated the sense of community that everyone there had formed from their shared religious beliefs. I especially enjoyed it when the priest started rapping because I did not expect that at all from a church. It was a really fun experience for me getting to see a part of Black culture.

The King Center was really fascinating as well. My favorite part was seeing his grave because I could really feel his energy best there. When we went to Gladys Knight's Chicken and Waffles that was great for me because I got to experience Black culture again. I loved hearing the old music while looking at all of the pictures on the wall of the famous African Americans who have been there and eating the food. Atlanta was a great way for me to really experience Black culture.

Lastly, the lecture from Bernard Lafayette was interesting. I appreciated the documentary he showed us and look forward to finishing it. It was so cool to be able to be in the presence of a Freedom Rider who risked his life to fight for his cause. That is really amazing to me. When he was talking about how he was beaten up and even targeted for assassination once my jaw dropped. I guess that isn't really surprising to me, I just have so much admiration for him because he did not give up fighting for equality. I can't wait to see what Tuskegee is like now after he talked so highly of it!