On the road studying the music and politics of the Civil Rights Movement, students discover there’s much work left to do and it’s their job to keep this history alive.
Music and political science. At first it might seem an odd pairing for an immersion trip.
Until you see the titles of the courses: Politics of the Civil Rights Movement and History of African American Music.
Until you remember the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.: “Much of the power of our Freedom Movement in the United States has come from this music. It has strengthened us with its sweet rhythms when courage began to fail. It has calmed us with its rich harmonies when spirits were down.”
So last fall, political science professor Shamira Gelbman’s students boarded a bus with music professor Reed Spencer’s class for a weeklong trip over Thanksgiving break to visit historic sites throughout the American South that commemorate key events of the Civil Rights Movement.
Each student had his own moment of awakening.
For Anthony Williams ’20 it was visiting the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, AL, where four young girls were killed in a racially motivated bombing in 1963: “Just hearing their names, seeing their pictures, seeing those smiles and then their gravestones really struck us.”
Arlen Taliaferro ’20 was moved as he and his fellow students linked arms and sang “We Shall Overcome” crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, AL: “You see these pictures of people linking their arms together then just to say, ‘We’re gonna get through this. We will overcome adversity.’”
visiting Medgar Evers’ home in Jackson, MS.
David Ortega ’20 was “in awe” of the young people who had such a huge impact on our history: “It makes me feel more accountable to really fight injustice today.”
Elijah Shadwick ’20 said, “I think this trip was a metaphorical passing of the torch. It’s our job to keep this history alive.”
Professor Spencer said the journey underlined both the power of music and the way taking the classroom on the road deepens learning with empathy and understanding.
“There was a really beautiful moment at the Lowndes County Interpretive Center in Alabama when our tour guide was so happy to see us that she began singing the song, ‘If You Miss Me at the Back of the Bus.’ She didn’t expect that we’d know it, especially our young students, but it was a song we’d all sung in both classes. By that time everyone had loosened up enough that we could sing it with her, and it was just one of those times when everything came together.
“And we saw that, as Dr. King said, music was really the soul of the Movement. That moment was magical for me because it showed how the music moved it all forward. And it added life, spirit, encouragement, joy, and hope, something the Movement was not inherently full of. It showed the power of music to create social change, it showed the influence of music to unite people.”