Social Stratification in the Deep South

The last part of our trip was spent in Clarksdale, Mississippi. We spent Wednesday afternoon walking around Clarksdale, exploring the blues capital of the world. The majority of my afternoon was spent in two locations, the Delta Blues Museum and Ground Zero Blues Club. The museum was very interesting and provided more time to take in the all of the blues history that is abundant in the region. It was fun to see pictures of places like Po’ Monkey’s, knowing that we were there only two days before. I was also really excited to get some posters in the gift shop that I can use to decorate my new apartment with. After the museum we went to Ground Zero for lunch. This is a Blues club that is rather well known both for its blues, and for the fact that it is owned by Morgan Freeman, who is from Clarksdale. One of the things that makes this place unique is that people sign their names all over the place; on the walls, the tables, the mirrors, everywhere. It was fun to find a place to make my visit official by adding my name to the wall. We were only there for lunch, so we couldn’t take in the full experience with a band, but it was still fun to see the place.

After spending some time downtown, we got back on the bus and headed to our “hotel” for the night, the Shack Up Inn. I put hotel in quotations because the Shack Up Inn is unlike any other destination in the hospitality industry. I had explored the website prior to our arrival, so I was somewhat expecting what we saw when we first pulled up, but it was still a bit of a surprise. The Shack Up Inn consists of a row of shacks that have do not look like they belong in the year 2007. The shacks all have electricity, hot water, and air conditioning, but that’s about it. At first it was really fun to explore the shacks, see how they differed, and decide which ones were better or worse, but then it started to set in that we were actually staying there for a night. I’m obviously biased, but I’d say that my shack was the best one. It was bigger than some, and ours was the only one with a screened in porch. The experience was a lot of fun, and the class definitely made the best of it, but I wouldn’t really say it’s something I would like to do again.

Our stay at the Shack Up Inn was followed by two long days of driving home. We drove all day Thursday and spent the night in Knoxville, Tennessee. Unfortunately we did not get to see much of Tennessee because we left for Wake at 6:30 the next morning. The whole ride from Knoxville to Winston-Salem was spent sleeping on my part, so it went by pretty quickly. When we finally got back on campus it was pretty sad to realize that the trip was actually over. I had such a great time and learned and experienced so much that I really didn’t want it to end, but I know that I will keep this trip with me for a long, long time.

Today we went to Parchman, the most infamous prison in Mississippi. This was one of the days I was looking forward to the most, and it certainly did not disappoint. It was completely different from all the others days of the trip, and very interesting. The first thing we had to do this morning was adhere to the dress code, which meant no shoulders or anything else showing for the girls, no open toed shoes, boys had to be sure to wear a belt, and nobody could have any money of any sort. We also had to make sure we locked up all electronics and valuables underneath the bus. Making sure we followed all these rules further built up the anticipation for me; it was really like we were going to another world.

We started off the day in the visitor’s center, where we were greeted by Raphael, an inmate who has been imprisoned for nearly 15 years. Raphael was a very personable man, who had been a college basketball player and was in jail for dealing crack. One of the things that was reiterated today was that Mississippi is extremely tough on drug dealers, as is exemplified by the fact that Raphael was given a 30 year sentence for his first offense. He will be eligible for parole after fifteen years, and is therefore hoping to be out relatively soon. During his talk, he spoke about what it is like to have your freedom taken away and live in the harshest of environments for such a long time. He mentioned the brutality of prison life and how quickly he learned to sleep with his eyes open and with a weapon in his hand. It is hard to imagine always having to be on your guard, knowing that anyone could attack you for almost no reason whatsoever.

After Raphael and Linda from the visitor’s center spoke to us, we moved onto the building that housed the surveillance cameras. I found this to be one of the most interesting parts of the visit because we got to see firsthand what it is like inside the prisons. First of all, there was a murder in the prison last week, so things were on a bit more of a heightened security. One of the first things they showed us inside this building was a lance-like weapon that was very similar to the murder weapon. It was very creepy to see this thing that was made from a piece of the toilet and a broom stick, and demonstrated how smart and resourceful the prisoners are. When we walked into the room showing live surveillance on six different screens, the first thing I noticed was a huge puddle of red liquid in one of the hallways. It took someone asking what it was for all of our fears to be confirmed, as the workers told us it was blood from an inmate cutting his wrists. They were very nonchalant about the whole situation, saying that if he was trying to kill himself he would have done it in a different manner, and explaining how prisoners will often do things like this to go to the hospital where they will experience relative freedom and might even be able to get a cigarette. After this, we got the man working in surveillance to bring up some footage of an attack on a guard a couple weeks ago. It was UNBELIEVABLE to see a handcuffed prisoner attack a guard, throw him down on the floor, and stomp on his face until the guard just lay on the floor as the convict ran down the hallway. This was certainly the most shocking part of the day for me. I had always heard about and seen in movies the brutality that exists in prison, but to see it with my own eyes was something completely different.

The next really interesting thing we did within Parchman was go into one of the buildings that houses prisoners who are not a huge threat and are soon to be released. We all went into a room surrounded by windows that looked down into the living quarters of the inmates. It was interesting to see communal area where they sleep, hang out, and live. It became increasingly difficult to focus on the two people who spoke to us (one who dealt drugs, one who killed someone in self-defense) because it was so hot in there. There is no air conditioning in these quarters, and it was difficult to sit there for 30 minutes or so, I can’t even imagine having to live there on days when it gets to be 110 degrees. This issue with the heat is also important because of the work outside and in the fields that the convicts do. Parchman is more than just a prison, it is a huge farm with the buildings scattered around it, and the prisoners are depended on for a lot of work on this farm. It is hard to think about doing manual labor all day during the heat of the summer, and then returning to a cell where the heat just smothers you. Pretty much everything about prison life was difficult to take in, because there is not one aspect of it that is comfortable. Oh yea, and they often find bugs and eyes and more in their food! Yummy.

After our time in prison was done, we hit the road and drove up to the Gold Strike Casino. I’m happy with my winnings from our last stay at a casino, and therefore think I will try to avoid the roulette table and slot machines tonight, but we’ll see. I’ll probably be busy writing a paper all night anyways, so oh well.

Today was a very long but interesting day filled with information about the Mississippi delta. We woke up nice and early and went to Delta State University where we met with Dr. Luther Brown, a professor there who spoke to us and led us on a bus tour of the region. This tour brought us to various towns and cities and featured several stops of importance. We learned a lot about the history of the delta, along with the importance of agriculture to the area. Dr. Brown was a specialist on blues, so we heard a lot about the lives of some of the pioneers of blues, and made a couple stops to learn more. My favorite stop was in Greenwood, Mississippi, where we saw two very different parts of the town. First we went to a part called Baptist town, which is the African American part of town, is very poor, and is also where blues legend Robert Johnson lived, played, and was murdered. It was really neat to see this small community and really be able to get a feel for the atmosphere surrounding blues when it was at its height. We ate lunch at a small convenience store with a kitchen, where we were able to get some southern fried chicken and fried okra. The food was great, but all this fried food is killing me! We had a guest speaker at lunch who spoke some more about blues, and afterwards we walked around the neighborhood a bit to see where Robert Johnson lived, and tour a house preserved from that time. That house and the community really made it easier to see why blues were so popular because they provided an outlet for people to express their dissatisfaction with the social and economic environments in which they lived. As our tour guide said: “If we were depressed, we sang the blues. If we were happy, we sang the blues.”

After visiting Baptist town, we visited the other part of Greenwood, where the downtown is undergoing a revival. We had a nice break from the bus while seeing some of the Alluvian hotel, which was absolutely beautiful. If I ever return to Greenwood, I will certainly be staying there. We also stopped into the Viking kitchen supplies store, where beautiful (but expensive) supplies are sold, and cooking classes are taught. We tried to convince somebody that our class should get a cooking tutorial, but that didn’t happen. This was followed by hearing Senator David Jordan talk about living in the area during the murder of Emmet Till and the trial in which his killers were acquitted. It was really powerful to hear him tell this story and know that he was a little younger than I am now when it all happened. His speech had even more impact when we got on the bus and drove to Money, Mississippi, where we stopped in front of the store where Emmet got in trouble for whistling at a white woman.

After driving around the delta and learning even more about its history, we stopped at Senators restaurant for an early dinner. The restaurant stayed open just for us, and we were treated to a fried catfish dinner made especially for us by Senator Willie Simmons himself. Dinner was delicious, catfish officially became my favorite southern dish, and we heard a bit more about some of the history of blues our special guest for the day, Dr. Rosen. Dinner was great but we were all ready to get back to the hotel after a long day, and we especially could not wait to go to Po’ Monkey’s to really take in the blues/juke joint experience that we had been hearing about all day.

The whole class pulled up to Po’ Monkey’s around 8pm, ready to hear some good music and have fun. I really couldn’t wait to see what it looked like inside, because it seemed so tiny from the outside. The interior did not disappoint, it was decorated with Christmas lights, a disco ball, and had all sorts of dolls and monkeys hanging from the walls and ceiling. There was a stage for the band to play on, a bunch of tables for people to enjoy the music from, and a pool table off to the side. I know that I had a great time listening to the music, playing pool, and enjoying a beer or two. Mr. Monkey also really added to the experience, as he promenaded around the place with a cigar in once hand, a drink in the other, and wore a variety of fancy and colorful suits throughout the night. I believe he wore five different suits: orangish/brownish, red, blue, white, and dark green. I’m pretty sure that everybody really enjoyed this night, and it has definitely been the highlight of the trip for me.

Today was very similar to last Sunday in structure, but very different in experience. The day consisted of attending a Baptist church in the morning, and then spending the rest of the day on the bus traveling to our next destination. The church we attended this morning was Greater St. Stephen Full Gospel Baptist Church. This was now my second experience in a primarily African American Baptist Church, but it was very different from the 16^th Street Baptist Church. First of all, the congregation was much larger, as was the building itself. The music at church today was performed by a large gospel choir, and was pretty jubilant with clapping and some dancing. This pretty much fulfilled my expectations about what a gospel choir would be like; the music was lively and contemporary, but more traditional than last Sunday’s. Today’s pastor was a woman, which is something that I am not used to at all, but I thought she was great. She talked about a variety of things, but her main message was about being like Daniel from the Bible. Her message related to the crowd very well, which was pretty diverse in age and much younger than 16^th Street. This church was also very contemporary compared to what I am used to, passing out very colorful handouts and cd’s to all of us, and projecting the service and Bible passages on large screens around the church. You can even sign up to receive inspirational messages on your phone everyday! Another very interesting part of the service was right at the end when people were “saved.” There were about 8 people who were saved in front of the congregation, and it was different to see them be touched on the head by the pastor, and then fall back into somebody’s arms. I am not used long services, and this was very long to me because it was over two hours. I think all the singing and the long sermon are what particularly contributed to the length.

After church we got on the bus and spent the rest of the day traveling to the delta region of Mississippi. Cleveland to be exact. The drive was long, and we had a lot of class time with discussion, presentations, and documentaries. It was also interesting to watch the scenery change as we progressed through Mississippi and seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. Half the class, myself included, do not have cell phone service here, which is bizarre because of how dependent we have all become on technology. This also demonstrates how we are now in a completely different world from all of our previous stops. Now its time to watch a documentary about a woman who lives in the county we are staying in, and shows the terrible poverty around here. This should be a nice, relaxing way to end the night after a long day and a crazy weekend.

This morning we learned about the many problems New Orleans has experienced because of the broken levies that resulted from Hurricane Katrina. We started out the day by going to ACORN, and listening to somebody speak about what they are doing to help out after Katrina. ACORN is an organization located in cities across the country, whose work in New Orleans in centered on housing. The woman who spoke to us told us all about the problems with the levies, and how they broke in multiple places, leaving 80% of the city flooded in varying degrees. She also discussed many of the political, economic, and social problems in the city that have been augmented by the hurricane. This was very educational because it seems to be one of the most directly related to sociology so far. It is easy to see that there are certain social forces working against certain people in New Orleans. This visit to ACORN was also interesting because we were given enough information to contrast New Orleans experience with that of Hancock county, Mississippi. New Orleans was not directly hit by the storm, so it did not have the massive wind and water damage we saw in Mississippi. It did, however, experience massive flooding that descended on the city very quickly when the levies broke. The flooding happened so quickly that many of the people in the lower 9^th ward were not able to get out in time.

I was given a sense of the panic they must have felt when the woman gave an idea of the flooding by saying something along the lines of “what would you do if you opened up your door and saw water, and only had 15 minutes until it would be up to six feet? Would you go out into the water? Would you go into the attic?” This really helped me understand how chaotic and unexpected everything must have been because in that situation, I absolutely do not know what I would do. Both situations seem to be lose-lose, and I can’t even come up with a better solution after thinking about it for a while. It’s just so difficult to react to something like a flood in only 15 minutes, especially because I typically think of flooding as occurring gradually.

After our visit to ACORN, we got on the bus and toured the lower 9^th ward for a bit, to see the area most affected by the flooding. Most of the houses and businesses in this area were completely abandoned and closed off. Just about every single house had an X spray-painted onto it, with initials, a date, and numbers. These indicated that the house had been inspected, the date it had been inspected, the initials of the inspector, and how many dead bodies were found inside. Usually there was a zero indicating the dead bodies, but every once in a while there was a 1, or the word “dog” written, and it was absolutely chilling to see. The most shockingly terrible part of this excursion came when we stopped the bus and walked down one of the streets. We came upon a large house that was in horrible shape, clearly destroyed by the hurricane. I stopped to take a picture of the damaged house, and then continued walking a bit further. As I was able to see the side of the house, I realized that there was more spray paint on it, this time saying “1600 people died 4 u to take this picture.” It really hits you when something like that is thrown in your face and completely unexpected. The way that this message was worded really made me realize how bad things were and almost made me feel guilty for taking the picture, which I obviously did.

We had a lot of free time today to catch up on homework and work on some group assignments, then went out to dinner. I went for a dish called the taste of New Orleans, which featured small portions of gumbo, jambalaya, and shrimp and crawfish dishes. I normally don’t eat all those things, but wanted to get another feel for New Orleans cuisine.

Today was another long day of activities and traveling, but it was definitely a memorable one. In the morning I found out that I would be one of the four people conducting our last interview and oral history, so we did that while the rest of the class got breakfast. I am so glad that I was lucky enough to partake in this interview, as it was incredible and one of the highlights of the trip thus far. I got to hear the story of someone whose home was completely destroyed during the hurricane, and how she and the community persevered. It was both touching and difficult to hear this story, which similar to some others, was told differently. This interview really put everything in perspective for me, and I was greatly affected by it. I’m not even entirely sure what it was, but something about this interview was very powerful to me.

After the oral history we met up with the rest of the class and went to the Laundromat where I washed some clothes. Once again this showed me how good I really have it, and made me appreciate not having to pay every time I do my laundry. It was also interesting to note that I was doing laundry beside other members of the community who were affected by Katrina. When we were all finished with out laundry we got back on the bus and drove over to New Orleans. The ride was short (about an hour), and we had some good class time and discussion during it. We checked into our hotel near the French quarter, and had some free time to go out and explore. I think almost everybody headed out to Bourbon Street, where we were able to take in the sights and experience sensation behind Mardi Gras. All of the girls ate dinner at a Cajun restaurant on Bourbon Street, and I am very proud to say that I tried the blackened catfish. I’m not really much of a fish fan, but figured I had to try it since it is one of the specialties down here, and I am very glad I did because it was delicious. Hopefully we can continue to take in the culture in New Orleans, and learn more about the affects of Katrina on the city tomorrow.

Today was our big day of service at the Hancock County library. There were two parts to the day; the first part for my group was doing some organization for scrap booking. The library has had so many things to do since Katrina, and is therefore a little bit behind in maintaining things like scrapbooks which essentially record its history. Our task was to sort out a huge amount of newspaper articles about the library that have been saved over the years. At first it seemed like a daunting task, but once we got our system of organization into place, it went relatively quickly. It was continually expressed that this work was necessary, and while it did not seem like a huge thing, it was really helpful to the library because it helped them catch up on something that preserved their history. After spending three hours sorting through articles, we were given historical postcards of Bay St. Louis, and did some research on the buildings featured in them. I looked through a history book about Hancock County, and wrote up a little blurb about the construction of the First Baptist Church. It was really neat to look through this book and see some of the history of this community.

After our morning activities, my group and I conducted two interviews for oral histories. Both of our interviews were in front of the camera, and were really meant as a way to preserve the memories and hurricane experiences of the library staff. Both of our interviews lasted about 45 minutes long, and were completely different. One person experienced Katrina, and the other moved to Bay St. Louis after the storm, so they offered very different perspectives. It is difficult to articulate how grateful I am to have had the opportunity to hear these stories in-depth. I know that I will never truly know what it was like to go through everything this community has gone through, but I now have a greater understanding of what it was like. I do not really want to go into detail about the interviews here, but I just want to say that it was truly eye-opening and moving beyond belief.

It has been a very draining day in many ways, but I think this is what this trip is all about. I am really excited to head back to the library tomorrow morning to finish up our work and say goodbye, and then head on to our next destination.

Today was the first day we spent in Mississippi, and it was very different from all the other days of our trip. We woke up rather early to head over to the Hancock County Library in Bay Saint Louis, Mississippi. Upon our arrival we were greeted by a number of library officials and even some city officials. The people who worked at the library then began to tell their stories about hurricane Katrina, and they had so much to tell that this portion of the meeting lasted for nearly three hours. I feel as though it is absolutely impossible for people who have not lived through it to understand what the devastation was like, but these peoples’ stories really helped to provide some insight. The most incredible part of this morning for me was a presentation given by Prima, the main librarian. This presentation entailed many before and after picture of the libraries, along with a before and after of her house. The before picture showed her beautiful house and pool on the water, and the after picture showed all that was left of the house: an oven and a dishwasher. I can’t even describe the goose bumps I had when listening to this presentation. We heard a variety of stories about the devastation the library staff faced, and how the community really came together to overcome such tragedy.

After spending the morning at the library and having lunch, we went on a tour of the area given by our friends at the Hancock county libraries. The things we saw on the bus tour of the town and of surrounding towns were absolutely incredible. I know that I am one of the many people guilty of thinking that the recovery process in Mississippi was mostly over, and the sights we saw on our tour absolutely confirmed the opposite. There were countless numbers of foundations where houses used to be, and so many houses still had a huge amount of damage. The rubble from the disaster was everywhere, and it was very hard to think that this occurred nearly two years ago. One typically thinks of two years as being a sufficiently long time to recover, but parts of this community look as if they were hit by the storm yesterday. It is just so chilling to see the images we saw on the bus today and realize how little progress has been made in some of these areas in almost two years. It just goes to show how much dire need of help this community was in; because half of the town is still completely ruined after what I had thought was a long time. It is obvious that the devastation from this storm is much deeper than I had ever imagined, even after looking at countless images of the terror Katrina brought. It was so moving to hear all the stories, and I am now really looking forward to interviewing some people tomorrow and recording their oral histories. It should be really interesting and moving to hear more stories in-depth, I just hope I don’t cry!

After spending some more time at the library in preparation of our interviews tomorrow, we headed back to the hotel for our group reflection. We were on our own for dinner, so Ronnie took a bunch of us down the street where we had a little bit of a choice of what to eat, and then went back to the hotel for the night. Last night I had a good time losing money on the slot machines, so tonight I’m planning on winning it all back. This time I’m going for roulette though, as I learned my lesson about slot machines last night.

Today was a very long day filled with a few different activities. We woke up bright and early this morning to check out of our hotel and walk to the Southern Poverty Law Center where we had an appointment at 9:00am. We actually went into the Civil Rights Memorial Center, which is across the street from the Southern Poverty Law Center, but associated with it. This gave yet another perspective on the civil rights movement, and gave more faces and names to those who were killed for fighting for their beliefs and freedom. While we have heard many stories from this movement, they never cease to amaze me and sadden me. My favorite part of the exhibit was the Wall of Tolerance. This wall records the names of people who have made a commitment to work in their daily lives for justice, equality and human rights. The wall is digital, and we were all able to put our names on the wall. It was really neat to see my name and the names of my classmates up there along with the names of many others who have dedicated their lives to this cause.

After the museum we got back on the bus and left Montgomery. We stopped in Selma, Alabama to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge and to walk through the George Washington Carver Projects. The bridge that we walked across was the bridge that the marchers crossed during their walk to Montgomery, but it was also the bridge that they were violently attacked on by police on March 7^th, 1965, also known as Bloody Sunday. It was incredible to trace these people’s steps as they began their journey, and it was also interesting to be on the bridge and realize that the marchers could have had no idea what brutality was awaiting them on the other side because you cannot see down to where the police were waiting for them. The George Washington Carter Housing Project was very interesting for a number of reasons. First of all, I had never been very close to any projects, and it was eye-opening to see the way the housing these people lived in. There was one little store within the projects that was completely different from anything I was expecting. Aside from the tiny size of the store, I was shocked to walk in and see that the person working the store and all the merchandise were behind bars. I had never seen a store with that type of security, and was very surprised at it. The other thing we saw that was probably the reason for the visit to the housing project was the Baptist church where the marchers congregated before beginning their journey to Montgomery. This church is located in the middle of the project, and has a famous monument to Martin Luther King Jr. with the words “I had a dream.” It was very strange to see this famous saying put in the past tense.

Following our visit to Selma, we drove to Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. The drive was kind of long, but not as bad as I thought it would be. We are staying in a casino/hotel for the next three nights, so I am anticipating a fun time. Of course, the main reason for our visit to this area is to work with the Hancock county library and to help these people record their Hurricane Katrina stories. We will meet with them tomorrow, which should be very different from all the other things we have done so far on this trip. Ok, off to the casino for me!!

Day 3

Today was a very interesting day that was completely different from the first two days of the trip. We went to the Sunday morning service at the 16^th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham. I was really looking forward to going to this Church because of the history behind it, and also because I knew that it would be a completely different worship experience from what I am used to. The service definitely did not disappoint. Almost everything about the service was different from the Catholic masses I am used to attending, and I knew I was in for quite a treat when two of the choir members warmed up the crowd with an enthusiastic rendition of “God is Awesome.” The singing and music during were very upbeat, with the congregation standing up, clapping, dancing, and singing along to it. This was one of the more enjoyable aspects of church, and while I am not particularly expressive like that, I found myself clapping along a little bit, and know that I would certainly be more involved if I had been raised in a similar church. The lady sitting next to me was particularly enthusiastic and vocal throughout the service, not hesitating to proclaim “yes, yes!” whenever she agreed with the preacher. This was mostly entertaining to me, but it was also nice to see someone who was so expressive with their spirituality. The final aspect of the service that was extremely different from what I’m used to was the sermon. The preacher spoke very passionately for what was a rather long sermon, I would guess around 30 minutes, but it may have been longer. When I say that he was passionate, I mean that he was yelling at points, waiving his arms, and sweating a lot. I felt like I could really identify with and understand most of his message, as it could be preached to most Christians; it was just the delivery of the message that was rather different. The whole experience was a lot of fun, and it is definitely something I would do again.

After church we said goodbye to Birmingham and drove to Montgomery, where we got settled into out hotel and ready for the next day. It was really nice to have some downtime to enjoy happy hour and swim in the pool. Tomorrow should be another interesting day in our newest city.

Day 4

Today was an incredible day that really surprised me in many ways. Because it is Memorial Day and not much was expected to be open, we decided to go to a park between Montgomery and Selma and then have a cookout. I’m not sure anybody really knew what to expect when we got this “park,” but it ended up basically being a museum dedicated to the march from Selma to Montgomery for voting rights in 1965. I did not know anything about this march until we arrived in Montgomery and started hearing about it in presentations, and still can’t believe that so many people walked 50 miles from one city to the next. The museum dedicated to this and other aspects of the civil rights movement was absolutely beautiful and very moving. We started out by watching a short film about the event and the brutality and force that police exerted on the marchers in order to halt their movement. People were killed while participating in a peaceful protest and trying to ensure a right that I was given the second I turned 18. This thought really hit me hard because at the end of the video they showed a statistic about the small percentage of 18-24 year olds who voted in the last election, and I am sorry to say that I was not included in that percentage. I just registered to vote a couple of months ago and am planning to vote in the next election, but it was always something that I just didn’t really pay attention to. I have never been so ashamed to have been given something like the right to vote and completely ignored it. Knowing that people died so that they could have what I was given and have not used puts a completely different perspective on things. It just goes to prove once again that you shouldn’t take anything for granted. Voting is a part of being American. It is a constitutional right that was unjustly denied to so many people, and I need to realize how easy I have it and important it is that I vote. Even if I never become truly interested in politics, I will always vote in the future because what I learned today made it have importance on a personal level, regardless of political interest.

After that heavy portion of the afternoon spent inside we all went outside to a picnic area and had a great cookout. Ronnie made hamburgers and hot dogs while we were pursuing our academic endeavors, and we all returned to a lovely picnic complete with watermelon for dessert. One more thing about the picnic and walking around outside: it was HOT.

The day was completed by a powerful group reflection and then the class walked around and explored the historic district of Montgomery. We walked around the place where the slave market used to be, explored the outside of the state house, passed Martin Luther King Jr.’s church, and stopped by the Civil Rights Memorial. It was nice to walk around the city, but was strange because it was completely deserted. It seemed we were the only people out there. The whole state house area was very interesting because there was a demonstrated appreciation for the confederacy. There were statues of Jefferson Davis, the president of the confederacy, as well as a monument displaying all the flags of the confederacy that had a quote about the “knightliest race.” It is clear that Alabama is not willing to forget its past, and seems to be quite proud of it. This is particularly interesting when considering the fact that we went immediately from the state house to the civil rights memorial. It is easy to see how so much tension existed in a city and state that was so divided and still bears the marks from this division.

As previously mentioned, we had a group reflection before we walked around the city, and I just wanted to talk about the reflection a little bit. These are quickly becoming one of my favorite parts of the day, as it is just a time to think about the day and discuss various issues we encountered. These sessions really make me think, and I can only begin to put down some of the thought that I have resulting from them here, but there is one thing I wanted to mention. First of all, our group dynamic is very interesting because it is very racially diverse, and especially because there are no white males on the trip. I think this diversity is invaluable during our reflection time, especially because we talk a lot about race during this time. The specific thing we addressed tonight was white privilege, and I cannot even begin to describe my feelings here, but it is so frustrating to see how unfair this world is. My final thought is that I really believe that the biggest white privilege of them all is that most white people don’t even realize they have a white privilege because they do not have to deal with racism on a daily basis.