On to Bay St. Louis, Mississippi
We left the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC; located in Montgomery, Alabama) after a discussion of “hate” in the south. Lilly Massa (Wake alum, now a staff member at Vanderbily U) met us there and after our discussion with Andrew who explained how the SPLC works, the types of cases they engage in and the most recent cases they are involved with, we hit the L O N G road to Mississippi.
Must also say here WELCOME to Prof. Susan Faust (Wake Forest, Dept. of Communication) who arrived late the previous evening.
Thanks to Dr. Lynn Sutton (Director of the Z. Smith Reynolds Library at Wake Forest) we are committed to 2 1/2 days of “service” at the Hancock County library. Our students completed the required Institutional Review Board certification (a 4 hour ordeal) so that they can take oral histories from people directely impacted from Hurricane Katrina.
Along with the oral histories we will also engage a team of students with building a “paper trail” of the hurricane and the devestation via scrapbooks. The class has been split up into 2 (maybe 3) groups with specific tasks.
To prepare for the folks in Hnacock County we watched on the bus a CNN video of what Katrina did to this part of Mississippi (near the Gulf).
Most consistently the people talked about not getting the “respect & attention” as did New Orleans. They also did not get the financial response from US insurance companies, even those few with the proper insurance.
I am looking forward to our time here as it will give the class an “up front” experience working with good people who were hit with a natural disaster and who have had to navigate the human response (and not just FEEMA).
Check out the FLICKR (photographs) from the last few days. Some awesome graphics from our crossing the bridge coming into Selma.
Also, even though the Internet connections have been less than desirable, our students have done their homework, wrote their blogs, placed them on flass drives and thanks to Susan S. Smith (Director of Technology at the Z. Smith Reynolds Library, Wake Forest U) we have been able to get the info on-line.
Part 2 of this blog with be posted later tonight.
Have a great day,
Earl Smith