ANN ARBOR—Washington, D.C., Birmingham, Memphis, Montgomery, Selma, and the Edmund Pettus Bridge. Students from the University of Michigan gave up basking on a beach to follow the “Civil Rights Trail,” to learn, as one put in a journal, that “I am so naïve. I don’t know anything.”

These 21 U-M Lloyd Hall Scholars—Blacks, Whites, Asians, Jews, Christians, and Buddhists—crammed themselves into four mini-vans for the eight-day, 3,000 mile pilgrimage through civil rights history and some of its bloodiest territory.

“It takes a lot of guts to get in a van and travel 3,000 miles with people you do not know very well in search of a movement that no longer exists,” says Joseph Gonzales, a graduate instructor at U-M and coordinator of the event. “Despite cramped quarters, bad food, and a schedule that could exhaust a presidential candidate, these students learned not only about the movement, but also how to work together as a community, making decisions and resolving disputes.”

The following are excerpts from some of the journals kept by the students:

“When we asked what we could do for the Civil Rights Movement, Julian Bond stated that people in our generation are more willing than any previous generations to work in soup kitchens, volunteer to help AIDS patients, do community service, but we are the least willing to ask the questions of why things are the way they are and what we can do to change them. Up until this class, I don’t think I ever really thought to ask such questions…even if I did know that volunteering and community service was just not enough.

“Our trip has ended, but our journey has only begun. As a social activist, I want to challenge social constructions. Passing and enforcing laws has its place, but I have come to believe that the key to social change is a change in social consciousness.”   Mina Rim, senior Biopsychology and Cognitive Studies New Jersey

“Of all the speakers so far, Congressman John Lewis seemed to be the most dedicated to his cause even now. He wrote in our books, ‘Keep the faith.’ Those three words were enough to make me cry.

“This all makes me think of my place in the movement. If I had gone down to the South during these times, how would I have been treated? Being Asian, would I be considered colored, white, or just unwelcome? I wonder how other foreigners would have been viewed through the eyes of the segregated South. I now appreciate the hard and dangerous tasks the civil rights workers accomplished, and I don’t take my freedoms for granted.”   Christina Chau, freshman English and Sociology New York

“Last night before we went to sleep, my Black roommate and I lay in bed talking. We talked about our dads and how they snore. Thirty-five years ago we never would have talked, let alone shared a bed. And this morning we even used the same bathroom. When the movement was going on, this would have all been unthinkable.

“Someone in our group asked her (Jeribu Hill of Center for Constitutional Rights) if she still had hope. She said ‘Yes, I have to.’ Despite the terrible things that are happening in the South and even in the North, she still has hope. Here she is, a poor Black woman in the bowels of the United States, and she believes that she will triumph. She made me believe, too.”   Sarah Leonard, sophomore English Michigan

“It’s been an amazing trip, but what I realized is that we haven’t been looking around the South ‘In Search of the American Civil Rights Movement.’ We’ve been searching through ourselves to areas we don’t normally look. I’ve looked through myself by thinking before I came about why I’m doing this, by driving and meditating, by watching the countryside pass outside the window, by meeting an activist and wondering what I could do with the new knowledge, by wondering what my connection is to the Holocaust, by wondering if Julian Bond was right and our generation can’t ask the right questions, by wondering if I ask the right questions, by wondering what the right questions are, by suffering and celebrating as a group, by talking and reflecting with my peers who are faced with the same dilemmas,…by being moved by a woman I wish to emulate, by watching my spirit, that of my peers, and that of the trip, be transformed and finally by seeing the change in the group as we grow closer and stronger, deeper, and more understanding. Instead of seeing my growth on this trip as an expansion, I see it as shining a flashlight into nooks and crannies that I didn’t know I had.”   Kelly Kushner, sophomore Natural Resources & Environment Michigan

“While listening to her (Jeribu Hill) I felt sad that the kind of stuff we thought had ended is still going on, yet the media doesn’t pay attention to it. Rather, they trivialize the news and make it look as though racism and subtle racism no longer exist. She inspired me enough to think about interning with her this summer.”   Nick Klonoski, freshman Political Science Oregon

“This man (Congressman John Lewis) who was beaten repeatedly had nothing but positive things to say. He had so much faith in our generation that it almost made me cry. His most moving words were, ‘You have to stay united. You have to stay strong. And you must never give up.’ These just struck home for me. So many times I think that the struggle is over, but little did I realize that it will never be over. Just because we can sit anywhere we want or eat anywhere we want, it is just a stepping stone to the real goal—complete equality for all.”   Desiree Hunter, freshman Psychology & Sociology New York

“Social activism encompasses everything from practicing law and preaching justice to reading the words of others, as well as writing books and recycling. There is a role for everyone.”   Mina Rim, senior New Jersey While various units of the University provided some funds for this learning excursion, the students raised nearly half the needed funds by working in the a dining hall washing dishes. They also participated in U-M Housing‘s “meal sacrifice program” by encouraging 1,200 of their fellow students to sacrifice dinner on Feb. 15. This movement earned a $3,000 rebate from Housing for the costs of the raw food saved on that date. With the balance of the costs for transportation, motel accommodations, gasoline, and some food (one or two meal per day), students had only to pay for their remaining meals and personal expenses.

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