Mariya Kovalchuk 's post

Today was a day in which new information and facts kept flowing. When steeping foot onto the King Center, history really came alive for me. Seeing the home Martin Luther King Jr was born, walking into Ebenezer Baptist Church, and seeing the neighborhood in which so much sacrifice was made gave me the feeling that history actually happened right in the spot that I am standing today. For me, seeing where Martin Luther King Jr and Coretta Scott King are buried was amazing because it provided me with a moment of inspiration about all the change that has been made and can be made with the efforts of our generation.

Also, being in the National Center for Civil and Human Rights I had some very powerful experiences. Taking part of the simulation and listening to the individuals yelling at me through the headphones sounded way too real for me. It was painful to hear those voices and even though there were no visuals I felt as though I could almost visualize and see who was yelling at me. It was terrifying and it made me experience what individuals were treated like and how much yelling and stress must have put on these individuals. Also, going through the rest of the museum and seeing images from the Civil Rights Movement including fire hoses being used to hurt civil rights activists, images of sit-ins, and actual documents written by Martin Luther King Jr gave me more knowledge about the order of events and how different events led up to one another.

 Being in the museum it was also very interesting to see information about Civil Rights and Human Rights all over the world ranging from malnutrition, to child labor, to sexual assault, and many more topics. Basic human rights are not granted to everyone all over the world and it is making me think about how as an individual living in the United States I can reach populations all over the world. Also, in the conversation tonight with Dr. Bailey Iearned a lot of new information and really enjoyed the group discussion.  The topic of movements with violence and nonviolence made me think about the Civil Rights movement in a new way. This concept is something I have not learned about much before and these are ideas I would like to think about more on the trip.