Social Stratification in the Deep South

Today was very encouraging and informative. Every experience from walking in the park to our guest speakers had an impact on me. After watching the film about the history of Birmingham and being in the exact place where majority of the events occurred made is easier to understand the experiences of the residents. I think it is important to realize that although I felt like I could put myself in the victim’s shoes, and share the same experience, there is no possible way that I could experience the events that occurred.

My experience today also made me appreciate how far society has come, and how easy I have it compared to the past. We were fortunate to have three beautiful women share their experience with us, and each testimony was touching in its own way.

Afterwards we went on a tour of Birmingham and saw Angela Davis’ childhood home, and most importantly we were able to see the stadium where Paul “Bear” Bryant, one of the best college football coaches ever, coached his final football game. So far this was my most emotional and thoughtful days, but I am sure that there will plenty to come.

Today we attended 16^th Baptist Church. It is a blessing that this church is still up and running after its brutal past. The first characteristic of the congregation that I noticed was that it was a little more elderly than I expected. I questioned this at first, but once I thought about the history of the church and learned more about the role of the church in black communities. I had a better understanding after taking this information into consideration.

The pastor’s message was good and the people were welcoming, but I do not know if I would attend the church again because it was not my personal church and I feel like I would not be as comfortable as I was at my church at home. But the overall experience was heart-warming and it just adds to the excellence of the trip.

Today we arrived in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. I know what people are talking about when they say Mississippi is the definition of the country. The thing that surprised me the most about Mississippi residents was their accents. I was expecting strong southern accents and my assumptions were very off. After we were settled in our hotel we traveled to the local Hancock Library. I had mixed feelings after first seeing the library, because my city library was much larger, but after learning the impact the library had on the community I realized that my city’s library was bigger in size but definitely not as productive or involved with the community. It seemed that this was a place that wanted residents to be present just as much as the residents wanted to be present.

We were welcomed to Bay St. Louis and the Library by important people within the community. They were very kind and welcoming and it seemed that we had helped in so many ways already when we had done nothing. They made me feel like our presence was more important than our volunteering. After a long introduction we watched a film about Hurricane Katrina and the impact it had on Bay St. Louis. It was very touching and put things into perspective. Each staff member that talked to us had a different experience with the hurricane. After hearing all of the different testimonies I really got emotional because although they all had different stories, every victim’s life was affected by the hurricane.

After leaving the Library, we went on a “tour” of the city. There really was not much to show, because the after affects of the natural disaster were still present. It was hard to believe that the city actually had some type of development within it because it was full of houses spread along the ground into pieces and trailers. This was very shocking to see because I cannot imagine my family going through the same issues. My heart was lightened because never once they anyone I talked to blame themselves or anyone else for what happened.

Today we went to Selma, Alabama and walked the “Edmund Pettis Bridge.” I really was not able to take in the entire experience because I was to worried about not looking at the water that flowed below me, but at the same time it was a very powerful walk. After reaching the end I learned about the many problems present in Selma, Alabama from Dr. Hattery. We then walked through the George Washington Carver housing projects, where the march began. This was a great experience, because we had seen footage of every place that we had visited in previous days.

After walking the street we loaded the bus grabbed some lunch to go and headed to Mississippi. We watched Spike Lee’s “4 Little Girls,” which is a historical documentary film about the 1963 16^th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham. Although I’ve never heard of the film it was well done. It was interesting to get a different perspective because the documentary went more into the thoughts of the actual family members of the victims.

Today was a full day of work!!! We were split into “work groups” and given certain assignments to do within the library. I was lucky to work with Katie and Jayme, because without them I do not think everything would have been as smooth as it was. We were one of the two groups to start the day off. The only assignment that I had mixed feelings about was the oral history part. We were to interview people about their experiences going through Katrina. Talking in public is not my strength so I really did not want to do this part, but in the end it was the most influential part of the day. I thought we were at a disadvantage because instead of conducting 2 oral histories like everyone else, we had three to do. All three interviews were very emotional and difficult to hear, but I found them very helpful for both me and the person I was interviewing. It seemed that the interview was just as hard for the victim as it was for me. This opened my mind and I actually cared and wanted to listen to what they had to say. After finishing the interviews our group started to help organize the history of the library into a scrapbook.

That night the library was hosting a film screening for residents. This was new to me because libraries are usually strict about their noise level. Although we had to read subtitles the entire time it was a very good movie and I was stunned with how many people were in attendance. It only showed the importance of the library within the community.

Today was the first day of our DEEP SOUTH trip and although majority of our time was spent on the bus ride to Alabama we still managed to accomplish a great amount. Along the way we discussed the differences and similarities of stratification theories between Davis and Moore and Eric Wright. We then discussed the demographics of the South and explained values and stereotypes of the South.

Our lunch at the “Varsity” in Gwinnett County, GA was a first time experience for many of the students. Before we entered to eat I warned many of the students about the over use of the statement “what do you have.” For many students this was definitely a culture change, and it was obvious because everyone chose to stay towards the back after entering the restaurant. After eating at the Varsity I believe that many were satisfied with the taste of the food although many were unsure of what to order. I stuck with my regular order of 2 chili cheese dogs and a chili cheese burger and as usual it was delicious.

We arrived in Birmingham, AL three or four hours after leaving the varsity and checked into our hotel. We had dinner at a local restaurant, Irondale Cafe, which was popular for “soul food.” This was not a problem for me considering that soul food is one of my favorite foods. One problem that I did encounter with a couple of my classmates was once we entered the restaurant there was an older man that gave my classmates and I a disguised look. Once we all realized what was going on we immediately confronted each other of what was going on, and Antonio turned the entire situation into a joke which made things a lot easier to handle.

After a long night and an early morning we loaded the bus and went to ACORN. I had never heard of the organization, but after our group conversation I had an understanding to what the organization was about. ACORN stands for Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. It is the nation’s largest community organization of low income families, working together for social justice and stronger communities. For a community that has been destroyed to have so much unity and faith to continue to move forward is very inspiring. I cannot imagine how I would feel to lose my home to something I was totally unable to control and on top of the trauma with the hurricane, afterwards feel like I am not wanted back into my community or my city. I was very disappointed after learning more on the situation of the 9^th ward.

We were able to tour the 9^th ward, which is one of the lower income neighborhoods. It was like riding through a ghost town. There were many homes that still needed to be taken down and one particular house had these word spray-painted on it, “1600 people died for you to take this picture.” I was confused about the meaning of this quote, but I came up with two possible meanings 1) it was a request to let the story of the residents of the 9^th ward not be forgotten; 2) it was a request to not treat that community as a tourist area.

Today was another early day. We had to check out of our hotel and be back at the library at 8:30am. There was one more oral history to be completed and the people to conduct it were not chosen yet. In the back on my mind I was thinking about how much I did not want it to be me. With my luck I was one of the four chosen to conduct the interview. The lady we were interviewing was Mrs. Prima. We were all well acquainted with her which made the interview a lot easier. She answered each question gracefully with emotion and meaning. It was easy to feel her pain although it was obvious that tried to prevent from breaking down.

After the interview was completed many people complimented me on doing a good job conducting the interview. This came as a shock to me considering that this was not my comfort zone. I started to think why questions just kept coming and coming. The answer that I came up with was that it had nothing to do with me. It was all Mrs. Prima. Because I started to understand what she and others went through during the storm, I realized that this really had an impact on me. I really cared about the situation in Bay St. Louis.After the interview we loaded the bus and went to the laundry mat to wash clothes, and after that we were on our way to New Orleans!!

Today we traveled through Selma, Alabama and half-way to Montgomery to an interpretive center. The center highlighted certain aspects of the march from Selma to Montgomery. I was under the impression that we were going to have a picnic since it was Memorial Day weekend and nothing was really open. This was not a bad idea to me because I thought of it as a “break” from the emotion that I had felt the previous days. Things did not quite go as I expected, because the interpretive center was full of information and the film we watched was by far the best that we had seen.

On a happier note I met some of the workers from the center, and learned from them that the childhood home of Ben Wallace, an NBA All-Star, was located 100 feet from where I was standing. This was very thrilling considering that he is one of my favorite NBA players. We then grilled hamburgers and hotdogs, ate watermelon, and carried on conversation with each other to end the perfect Memorial Day.

After arriving back to the hotel we walked as a class through historic downtown Montgomery. We saw the Slave trade market, and I learned an interesting fact about them. I was very unaware of how the market was organized or how slaves were chosen. My guess before reading more about this was that it was similar to the movie “Gladiator,” where the gladiators were caged and inspected by potential buyers. Those thought to be more helpful with labor were the more expensive slaves.

We walked to the state capital and I noticed that at the very front there was a large statue of Jefferson Davis, and a monument dedicated to the history of the Confederacy. There were other statues on the ground, but I had never heard of them and found it hard to understand why they had statues of them and not one of Dr. Martin Luther King, who was the pastor at a church one block down for six year.