Tracking the
CIVILRIGHTS MOVEMENT Tennessee, Alabama, and Mississippi, 1955-2014 Travel two weeks in the South
Understand the roles of women, men, and children in the Civil Rights Movement
Meet with veterans and volunteers of the Civil Rights Movement as well as current activists and interpreters of the Movement
Develop leadership skills
Learn about grassroots organizing and current civil rights issues “We who believe in Participate in the 50th anniversary of the 1964 “Freedom freedom, cannot rest”
Summer” Project in Mississippi – Ella Baker Experience Southern culture, religion, music, and soul food
A Winona (Minnesota) State University Travel-Study Program to Tennessee, Alabama, and Mississippi. June 9, 2014 — July 3, 2014
Created and led by: Winona State University History Professors John Campbell and Tomas Tolvaisas; Alex Hines, Director of the Winona State University Office of Inclusion and Diversity; and Joe Morse, Civil Rights Veteran Winona State University 1.800.DIAL.WSU or P.O. Box 5838 507.457.5000 Winona, Minnesota 55987 www.winona.edu PARTICIPATING STUDENTS BACKGROUND
Name Major Hometown For a number of years, Joe Morse, Winona resident, long-time community organizer/activist and Patrisha J. Abt Law and Society Viroqua, Wi. Civil Rights veteran, and Alex Hines, Director of the WSU Office of Inclusion and Diversity, Sarah L. Anderson Law and Society Savage, Mn. urged Professors John Campbell and Tomas Tolvaisas to create a Civil Rights Travel Study Sarah M. Anderson Social Science-History Teaching Rochester, Mn. program. In December of 2012, with an eye on the upcoming 50th Anniversary of Mississippi’s Kasey Bruha Social Science-History Teaching La Crosse, Wi. 1964 Freedom Summer, Professors Campbell and Tolvaisas accepted the Morse-Hines challenge, Jessica R. Eling Law and Society Lakeland, Mn. recognizing that this anniversary would be a propitious time to introduce students to the Civil Jordan L. Gerard Journalism Spring Grove, Mn. Rights Movement. However, what started as an examination of Freedom Summer blossomed into Jessica L. Hepinstall History Rochester, Mn. a much broader inquiry into the Movement’s richness, complexity, and organizational diversity, Haley M. Krautbauer Social Science-History Teaching Pine City, Mn. hence, the program’s equally important focus on civil rights efforts, episodes, and individuals in Nicholas B. Lee Social Science-History Teaching Rochester, Mn. Alabama and Tennessee. In order to fully prepare for the program, as well as to establish their Hunter N. Lyght Law and Society Fennimore, Wi. bona fides with prospective student participants, Campbell and Tolvaisas took an 11-day scouting Hannah R. McDonah Social Science-History Teaching Trempealeau, Wi. trip to these three states in June of 2013 to meet people involved in the Civil Rights Movement and/ Samantha M. Paulson Social Science-History Teaching Sauk Rapids, Mn. or the ongoing interpretation of it, to visit locales where key episodes occurred, and, in general, to Mackenzie H. Pochardt Professional Studies Mendota Heights, Mn. acquire an experiential, site-based knowledge of the Movement. The gathered material, combined Casey P. Schuldt Computer Science Caledonia, Mn. with seemingly endless rounds of reading, writing, discussion, and oral presentations during Raymond C. Shoup Paralegal; Psychology Houston, Tx. the 2013-2014 academic year, has resulted in this travel study opportunity. While the program Luke W. Stahlmann Social Science-History Teaching St. Paul, Mn. includes traditional in-class summer school activities, the traveling portion goes from June 16 to Tyler M. Stern Social Science-History Teaching Waterford,Wi. June 30. Students, we hope, by engaging with numerous Civil Rights Veterans and current activists/ Andrew K. Wangen History Austin, Mn. interpreters of the struggle and by visiting key sites in these Southern states will acquire rich knowledge: of the Movement, of how grass roots organizing and social change happens, and of contemporary and ongoing, if-under-the-radar, civil rights challenges. CONTRIBUTIONS The following list of locations/sites/activities is a selective, rather than a complete, itinerary, while the lists of veterans and current activists are nearly comprehensive. We apologize for any errors or Financial Awards/Grants/Gifts: omissions. — John Campbell and Tomas Tolvaisas WSU Student Senate; Dr. Matt Lindaman, Chair, and the WSU Dept. of History; Dean, Dr. Ralph Townsend – WSU College of Liberal Arts; Dr. Holly Shi and the WSU Travel-Study Office; Dr. Locations, Sites, Activities, and Schedule Ted Reilly, Dr. Nancy Jannik, and Dr. Patricia Rogers, WSU Office of the Provost and Vice-Presi- dent; WSU Foundation; WSU Travel Studies Committee; Alex Hines, Director of the WSU Office June 17, Clinton, Tennessee: Green June 22-24, Montgomery, Alabama: of Inclusion and Diversity; WSU’s Learning and Community Engagement Curriculum (LACE) McAdoo Cultural Center Troy Univ. Rosa Parks Museum; Dexter Avenue Committee; Tim Price, Deputy to the Vice-Chancellor, MnSCU; Nick and Yonok Zeller King Memorial Baptist Parsonage Museum June 17-18, New Market, Tennessee: Academic and Social Support: Highlander Research and Education Center June 24, White Hall, Alabama: Lowndes County Interpretive Center; SNCC House WSU President Scott Olson; WSU Professors Tamara Berg, Colette Hyman, Mary Jo Klinker, James June 18-20, Birmingham, Alabama: Reineke, Nicholas Wysocki, Jim Schul; Winona State History and Education Studies Departments; Kelly Ingram Park; Sixteenth Street Baptist June 24, Lowndes County, Alabama: WSU Travel Studies Committee; WSU’s Program in Women and Gender Studies; WSU’s CLASP Church; Birmingham Civil Rights Institute Viola Liuzzo Memorial; Jefferson Davis Lecture Series; WSU ‘s Krueger Library’s Athenaeum Series; Shorena Abesadze Highway; Old Jail in Hayneville June 20-22, Meridian, Mississippi: Business and Logistical Support: Site of CORE/COFO Office and Community June 24-29, Jackson, Mississippi: Michelle Eggerichs, WSU History Dept. Office Manager; Dana Engel and Amy Debruyckere, WSU Center; First Union Missionary Baptist Medgar Evers Home; Tougaloo College; Jackson Travel-Study Office; Julie Erickson, Deb Benz, Melissa Soppa, and Tanya Schamaun of the WSU Church; George Smith Tribute; “50th Annual State University; “Mississippi Freedom Summer Business Office; Sue Pittman, Lamers Bus Company; Mari Livingston, WSU Student Financial Aid Mississippi Civil Rights Martyrs Memorial 50th Anniversary Conference” Office; Lori Mikl, WSU Legal Affairs; Phil Sonnenberg of the WSU Foundation; Cynthia Goodloe Service, Conference, Caravan, and March for Palmer, Jackson, Ms., Veterans of the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement, Inc. Justice” June 27, Cleveland, Mississippi: Amzie Moore House Promotional Support: June 21-22, Philadelphia, Mississippi: Pat Malotka, WSU Creative Services; De’Andre Avaloz; Brett Ayers, WSU Director of Marketing; Neshoba County Courthouse; Mount Nebo June 27, Money, Mississippi: Bryant’s Andrea Mikkelsen, WSU Director of Public Information; Cynthia Jokela, WSU Office of Univer- Missionary Baptist Church Grocery and Meat Market sity Advancement; “Created Equal”: A National Film Project by the National Endowment for the Humanities as sponsored by the Rochester (Mn.) Public Library June 21-22, Neshoba County, June 27, The Mississippi Delta: Fannie Mississippi: Rock Cut Road; Mount Zion Lou Hamer sites (Ruleville); Tallahatchie United Methodist Church; “50th Annual County Courthouse (Sumner); B. B. King Mississippi Civil Rights Martyrs Memorial Museum and Interpretive Center (Indianola); Service” Emmett Till Museum (Glendora)
June 22, Selma, Alabama: Edmund June 29, Memphis, Tennessee: National Pettus Bridge; Brown Chapel AME Church Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel CIVIL RIGHTS VETERANS WHO SPOKE Georgette Norman, Montgomery: Montgomery marches of 1965 and author of Selma, Lord, TO THE STUDENTS AND THEIR CIVIL Bus Boycott, 1955-1956 Selma: Girlhood Memories of the Civil-Rights Days RIGHTS ACTIVITIES Dr. Gwendolyn Patton, Montgomery: youth Alex Hines, Winona, Minnesota: as a student of color, helped leader for the MIA and SCLC; organizer for Elbert Means, Lowndes County: civil rights to de-segregate the public schools of Spartanburg, South SNCC; first female student body president at activist in Lowndes County Carolina Tuskegee University Mary McDonald, Lowndes County: grew up in Joe Morse, Winona, Mn.: 1964 Freedom Summer volunteer Catherine Coleman-Flowers, Montgomery a Lowndes County civil rights family and CORE staff Meridian, Ms.; organized voter registration, and Lowndes County: grew up in a prominent Jan Hillegas, Jackson: CORE 1963-64 Syracuse, MFDP, desegregation, direct actions, and national marches Lowndes County civil rights activist family from 1964-67 in Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana NY; NAACP Jackson 1963; COFO 1964- John Jackson, White Hall: Lowndes County 1965 Jackson; Freedom Information Service Sarah Collins Rudolph, Birmingham: severely injured in the high school student involved with SNCC and Mississippi Newsletter 1967-68 Sept. 15, 1963 Klan bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Lowndes County Freedom Organization; former Church; marched with Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth Mayor of White Hall Margaret Block, Cleveland, Ms.: member of the SCLC and field secretary for SNCC; participated George Rudolph, Birmingham: helped de-segregate Sheyann Webb Christburg, Dallas County: in the Delta’s Citizenship Schools and 1964 Birmingham public facilities; Vietnam War vet one of the youngest participants in the Selma Freedom Summer projects Clifton Casey, Birmingham: Birmingham’s Children’s Campaign, 1963 CURRENT ACTIVISTS/EDUCATORS/INTERPRETERS/ Janice Kelsey, Birmingham: Birmingham’s Children’s TOUR GUIDES WHO SPOKE WITH THE STUDENTS Campaign, 1963 Joe Morse, Winona, Mn.-based grass-roots of his activities on behalf of Black people being organizer for equality, several environmental unjustly arrested; organizer of “50th Annual Roscoe Jones, Meridian: Participated in 1964 Freedom justice groups, and preventing violence to Mississippi Civil Rights Martyrs Memorial Summer and Freedom School, president of the Mississippi women in 4 states Service” Student Union and youth chapter of Meridian NAACP; sit-ins; 1965 Selma March Alex Hines, Winona: as Director of the Winona Joanne Bland: Selma, “Journeys of the Soul” State University Office of Inclusion and Civil Rights tours Sadie Clark Martin, Meridian: 1964 Meridian Freedom Diversity, he works tirelessly at empowering School student; one of the five students to de-segregate Kimberly Smitherman: Selma, “Journeys of the students to challenge themselves, to break down Meridian High School in 1965-1966 Soul” Civil Rights tours barriers, and to succeed in and out-side of the Louise Smith, Ft. Wayne, Indiana: active in de-segregating classroom Ann Clemons: Montgomery, Civil Rights tours public accommodations in Meridian; helped get the first Black Stephanie McAninch: Highlander Research and Georgette Norman: Director, Troy University police officers hired in Meridian Education Center, New Market, Tn. Rosa Parks Museum, Montgomery Annie Pearl Avery, Selma: SNCC field secretary for five years, Susan Williams: Highlander Research and Catherine Coleman-Flowers: long-time activist; worked on voter registration and organizing demonstrations in Education Center, New Market, Tn. associated with the Equal Justice Initiative Georgia, Virginia, Mississippi, Alabama (Montgomery) and Alabama Center for Rural Dr. Tracy Snipe: Dept. of Political Science, Joanne Bland, Selma: participated in the “Bloody Sunday” Enterprise (Lowndes County) Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio march of 3/7/1965 in Selma and the “Turn Around Tuesday” Lecia Brooks: Montgomery, Civil Rights march on 3/9/1965; youngest civil rights activist to have been Ahmad Ward: Birmingham Civil Rights Memorial Center at Southern Poverty Law jailed during that period Institute, Head of Education and Exhibitions Center Curt Carrington, Selma: Dallas County Movement Samuel Pugh: Birmingham Civil Rights Mary McDonald, Lowndes County, participant; attended Tabernacle Baptist Church Mass Institute, Outreach Coordinator Environmental Activist Meetings Laura Anderson: Birmingham Civil Rights Elbert Means: Lowndes County, Activist and Lynda Lowery, Selma: 12 year old student in the 1965 Selma Institute, Archivist Elected Official to Montgomery March Barry McNealy: Birmingham Civil Rights Tour Dr. Daphne R. Chamberlain: Jackson, Historian Jeannie Graetz, Montgomery: Montgomery Bus Boycott, Guide and Director of the Council of Federated 1955-1956; house was bombed during the boycott Richard Coleman, Newton, Ms.: NAACP in Organizations Civil Rights Education Center Rev. Robert Graetz, Montgomery: Montgomery Bus Boycott, Mississippi counties of Lauderdale and Newton; Jan Hillegas: Jackson, Chair of the Mississippi 1955-1956; Secretary of the Montgomery Improvement helped get Meridian schools under Federal Green Party; currently active in a variety of Association (MIA); Rosa Parks and Rev. Martin Luther King court order to improve conditions for Black issues around West Jackson associate students Margaret Block: Cleveland, Civil Rights Tour Minnie McCants Harris: as a 15 year old, sent by the MIA to John Steele, formerly of Longdale, Ms.: forced Guide attend Highlander with her group, the Montgomery Gospel to leave Neshoba County in 1990’s as a result Trio; sit-ins; voter registration; sang at Mass Meetings