These are diary entries that I wrote throughout my ten-day Sojourn to the Past trip on February 14-23. Each entry is posted here two weeks after it was originally written, due to the provision that I didn’t have any computer or internet access during my trip. Be sure to check out my other Sojourn to the Past coverage. Enjoy.
Today was the first day of Sojourn, and boy, it was a long one. I was up at 2:30 AM this morning in order to shower and get ready, including last minute packing. (As usual, I forgot something…this time is was the shampoo.) We got to the airport a little after 4:00, and our flight went smoothly, arriving on time at around 1:45 PM (Eastern time now).
We had some assignments to start on the flight. I finished the assignment on Minnijean Brown-Trickey (which will be due tomorrow morning in order to meet her). I also finishesd up the reading on John Lewis, though I need to do that assignment still (due on Sunday).
Once we got through the airport, on the buses, to the hotel, and checked in, it was about 3:45 PM and we went into the meeting room for a lesson on the 1963 March on Washington. This included an introduction to the principles of nonviolence (which Dr. King wrote, by the way), in addition to talking about how that march was organized. We then looked in depth at the speeches made that day by John Lewis (SNCC) and Dr. King (SCLC). It was indeed an interesting lesson and helped to better expand the significance of that march to me.
After dinner, we went to Stone Mountain, which is pretty much the Confederate equivalent of Mount Rushmore, featuring carvings of Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, and Stonewall Jackson. After we took some pictures, we read quotes from John Lewis’ book, and then we played Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, reflecting it off of the mountain. We then had time to reflect on the seventeen minutes of that speech and what we felt listening to it.
Personally, I thought about the contrast between the figures carved in the mountain, who represented force, and violence, and destruction, versus Dr. King’s message of nonviolence, kindness, and calling for doing constructive things, to come together as a people. To me, it was a very profound, touching moment.
Right now, I’m writing this in the hotel lobby and socializing with other folks on the trip. There’s 150 students here representing about a dozen schools from the Bay Area, the Los Angeles area, and the New York area. I’m already very glad that I’m here and am looking forward to a good trip.
Tags: Atlanta, Confederacy, diaries, Dr. King, Georgia, Mount Rushmore, Sojourn to the Past, Stone Mountain
