ANN ARBOR—Getting on the bus became a new educational experience for nine University of Michigan students and five U-M graduate students on an eight-day odyssey into the Deep South.

These members of U-M’s Lloyd Hall Scholars Program set out on a journey through Atlanta, Memphis, Birmingham, Montgomery, Selma, and everywhere in between to learn about the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. Their learning experiences are documented at “Get on the Bus” available at http://www.umichstudent.com/getonthebus/index.html.

Following are some comments from students and instructors about this learning experience on wheels:

Michel Simon (student): “We just passed through Cincinnati. We’re still continuing with a discussion that we started at the end of lunch about affirmative action, minorities, racism, Michigamua (the U-M Union’s own tower society) and other leftist politics. I have taken note of the fact that, while most of us on this trip lean a little left of center as far as our political orientations go, there is a striking diversity of opinions between us—from moderate to Marxist.

“On the way back to Montgomery we read out loud from John Lewis’ account of ‘Bloody Sunday.’ I got the chills and my emotions were stirred as we crossed the bridge in our van while Debra read about what happened on that exact spot 35 years ago tomorrow. I can’t help but feel deep sorrow.

“On my right and my left were two white congressmen, across from me was Mamie Till, and all around me were people that had sung that song [“We Shall Overcome”] back when it really meant something. These people all knew the words. I did not. I learned them quickly. Tears came from my eyes like the water flowing slowly over the monument. Everything we had seen over the past week suddenly came alive, as the people that experienced it first-hand surrounded me in song… An African-American man behind me patted my shoulder as the crowd dispersed. ‘It’s good to see young people continuing what we started,’ he said. I have no idea who he was, but his words touched me like the words of the song touched me.”

Mimi Belton (student): “There is a relatively mixed bunch, Christians, Jews, Buddhists, and an atheist or two, and at least three individuals who are ‘non-white.’ I myself am a mixed-blood American Indian (Shawano and Western Tsalagi) also with some West Indian and European ancestry.?While I am very far removed from the south, what happened during the tumultuous sixties definitely shaped my life today.

“Another thing that sticks out in my mind—the confederate flag. I had never known what one looked like, until today. I realize now I have seen it before. However, I saw it a record number of times as we headed south. I wonder if this flag is considered just as offensive as the swastika?”

Joe Gonzalez (instructor): “Tomorrow the meat of the class begins?.As Doug Brinkley, whose book ‘The Majic Bus’ gave me the idea for this trip, has told me: There is just something magical that happens when a bunch of people go off together in search of the American story. He is right.”

Jeb Singer (student): “On this trip the members have various backgrounds that incite a great deal of political debate. Those backgrounds include journalist, history teacher, democratic socialist, social organizer and community studies scholar. … Despite all our various social, extracurricular and educational backgrounds, we have decided to be a civilized group of people. We have chosen to believe in something bigger than ourselves and instead of going from Detroit to Cancun, we have decided to stop at every Stinky Creek, TN, Ninety-Six, NC, and Peachtree, GA.

“Many racists never attempt to learn about the people they are oppressing. Ignorance is not bliss. Rather, education is the way toward equality. I am happy to have been educated.

“Beyond the great learning experience, I really got close to my companions. While it was clear that we shared different political views, we still had a great deal to learn from each other. I learned a great deal just by listening to other people’s side of a topic, like the protest of the SCC at the U-M. I also got to see how the Jewish community works and what types of things blend this culture together. I even learned a little about Singapore.”

Patricia Welsh (student): “I’m reminded of Ezekiel Kennedy, an older Black gentleman who played piano in Mary Mac’s, the restaurant across the street from the youth hostel in Atlanta… I told him that I had come down to Atlanta with a class from U-M—a class that was celebrating and learning about the Civil Rights Movement… He leaned into me, cocked his head to the right, and proceeded to tell me that so often, as an Atlanta native, and a Black man who lived during the time of the Civil Rights Movement, that it’s pleasantly awkward when a group of white kids come down South to see what his ‘people been through.'”

Alyssa Picard (student): “The problem with budget accommodations is that you never now when the Klan will move in next door…We were all sitting down for alligator at Gator’s Plaza Restaurant, a Cajun place with an excellent, if risque, blues band recording live tonight. Actually, it’s not totally clear that the guys downstairs are, in fact, the Klan. But this weekend is the 35th anniversary of the Bloody Sunday march across the Edmund Pettus bridge, and these guys were carrying armloads of Confederate flags and some suspicious-looking white satin robes, so you do the math.

“At dinner, we took a long look at our group and realized that not one of us would escape the scrutiny of the Klan guys. Joe and Teresa are practicing Buddhists, Hilary works for a progressive housing organization in Ann Arbor, Juliana, Alberto, and Natalie are from outside the US, Jeb, Debra, Michael, and Zack are Jewish, and Mimi’s ancestors are indigenous to the US. And Jordan wears a ‘Citizen of the World’ T-shirt, which strikes me as anti-Klannish.”

Natalie Rothman (student): “…I have learned some important and moving lessons about political commitment. I learned it from the museums, from the southern roadsides, from the wonderful people who came to talk to us in different places. But even more so, I learned it from the amazing group of students who went on this trip and made it what it was.”

Lloyd Hall Scholars Program