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Kindergarten - Grade 9 in Southborough, MA
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Walking Through History

Ninth grade students spent five days on a Civil Rights tour of Georgia and Alabama this month. It was an opportunity for the class to visit the sites and memorials that tell the story of the Civil Rights movement in the American South. Ninth grade English students connected these experiences to the themes of race and inequality they studied in poetry and literature this fall. History students in Topics in Modern America visited many sites they learned about in their study of the Civil Rights movement. The trip also offered ninth graders embarking on their final term at Fay the opportunity to spend a week connecting as a class. The itinerary balanced exploration of the Civil Rights movement with a broader opportunity for students to visit a part of the country they may be less familiar with and to share this unique experience as a class.

The itinerary was packed with museums, memorials, and site visits throughout the south. At Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Park in Atlanta, students explored exhibits that covered Dr. King’s life and work, including the Montgomery bus boycott, the Selma to Montgomery marches, the Memphis sanitation workers’ strike, and Dr. King’s assassination. Students then crossed the street to visit Dr. and Mrs. King’s tomb and the eternal flame at his graveside. In the afternoon, students visited the Apex Museum, Atlanta’s oldest Black history museum. The tour provided students with a comprehensive overview of slavery in America and traced Black history through the centuries to the modern day, with an exhibit honoring Black inventors and entrepreneurs. In Alabama, students spent a reflective and meaningful afternoon at the Legacy Museum, which explores the history of slavery, racism, and oppression in the United States. Students had the opportunity to visit and consider the exhibits at their own pace, which touched on the role of slavery in the development of the United States, the experience of slavery through the eyes of enslaved people, Reconstruction and the Jim Crow era, and the Civil Rights Movement. They also visited the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, a stark and moving memorial that honors the memory of Black victims of lynching in the United States. That experience, and the time to reflect on it as a group afterward, was a particular highlight for Director of Equity and Inclusion Jill Anthony. “It’s one of the most beautiful memorials I’ve ever seen, but it’s also intense because you have all of these coffin-shaped objects hanging as a memorial to all the people who’ve been lynched all over the United States. We saw the history, the art that has come out of it, and the beauty of people coming together to march and pull one another up. The kids felt all that.” On the second to last day, students visited the State Capitol in Montgomery, the final destination of the marchers who traveled from Selma across the Edmund Pettis Bridge, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Then, they walked the few blocks to see the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, where Dr. King served as pastor at the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement. This was followed by a short bus ride to the Rosa Parks Museum, where they learned more about Mrs. Parks’ contributions to the Civil Rights Movement and how her refusal to give up her seat on a city bus led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Then, ninth graders traveled to Birmingham, visiting the 16th Avenue Baptist Church, where a bomb killed four girls on September 15, 1963. A docent in the church community shared his memories of that day. 

The trip was designed to meet the ninth grade students where they are, balancing thought-provoking experiences from the Civil Rights movement with opportunities for camaraderie, sightseeing, and fun. Students enjoyed visits to the World of Coca-Cola in Atlanta and “Space” at the Illuminarium, an immersive exhibit on the history and future of space travel. Delicious food was another highlight of the trip as students enjoyed Southern barbecue and visits to food halls where they could choose from all kinds of cuisines, including Ethiopian, Mexican, and Vietnamese. The ninth graders appreciated that this trip was an opportunity most first-year high school students do not have. “The students were incredibly grateful for the experience,” says Jill. “They appreciated that it was just for them and that it was an experience that they were ready for.” 
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48 MAIN STREET
SOUTHBOROUGH, MA 01772
main number 508-490-8250
admission 508-490-8201