Civil Rights Trip: Photo and Video Footage

This video features photos and video footage from our civil rights trip. We dedicate this blog and this video to all of the Foot Soldiers whose names are often forgotten, but played a huge role by participating in the Civil Rights Movement.

Atlanta: Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site

Jensen Roll:

This was a very well put together site in my opinion. Seeing the wagon that Dr. King was carried in was very nice to see and then seeing his burial site with his wife was also very powerful and moving. I also loved seeing so many people there at the site compared to all of the other places we had been. It was very important to me to see parents with young children teaching them about the movement. There are many people my age who still have no clue how important this movement has been in our history as a nation and in human growth.

Being in the old Ebenezer Church was amazing. They had old recordings of MLK’s sermons that they were replaying. If you closed your eyes it was just like being there when he preached there years ago. The sanctuary looked as if congregations still met there each week.

Cassidy Stratton: 

This was not my first time visiting the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site, but I did have a completely different experience that my prior visit. I have always admired Dr. King’s leadership throughout the Civil Rights Movement, however, this visit was different because of my new appreciation for Coretta Scott King. It was not until this trip that I learned (in detail) her extreme contributions to the movement. She was dedicated to helping people and most definitely one of her husband’s #1 supporters. I now look up to both of them. Although they were a unit (husband and wife), I now understand their individual efforts in regards to the movement.

One of the exhibits in the memorial really hit home for me because it included all of the places that he visited and helped fight for civil rights, and Chicago was one of the places listed. I have heard numerous stories from my family about Dr. King’s impact on Chicago, but it was not until I actually saw the city engraved on the ground that I understood that he made a difference there. I am extremely appreciative.

My feet near the Chicago, IL engraving.

Hannah Orth:

Graves of Dr. King and Coretta Scott King.

We went outside to the crypt of Dr. King and Coretta, which was my favorite part of the center.  The idea to place them floating on top of the water has such a biblical and symbolic meaning.  Jesus walked on water, and Coretta and Dr. King are floating there similarly to Jesus.  The blueness of the water and the whiteness of the crypt provided such a dramatic feeling when I first saw them. I was taken aback by how much seeing their memorial shocked me.  The eternal flame across from their crypt gave me chills as well.  I think the flame should be somewhere more dramatic.  I think it seems like an afterthought; however, I still felt so empowered standing there.  The most magical moment of the trip was watching a dad wrap his young son in his arms and explain the eternal flame.  I nearly cried at passing of knowledge, history, culture, and love in this one innocent moment.  I wanted to take a picture, but this was their moment and I did not want to have a piece of it; it seemed selfish.

I can affirmatively say that my life is different because of this trip.  Now, I trust love to conquer all the worst parts of the world.  I believed in the power of love before but not like this, not with this much conviction.

The thousands of people in this movement inspire me.  The movement is associated with Dr. King and Rosa Parks and thousands of others are never mentioned.  Those are the foot soldiers that pushed the movement to the level it needed to be.  I can only hope to inspire a few people, let alone a whole population.  I am not sure where my future will go, but regardless, this trip has changed me for the better.  Thank you.