Spiders on Civil Rights Trail: Day 4
10/18/2024 | General, Academic Services, Spider Performance
Five Spider student-athletes have embarked upon a fall break tour of key civil rights sites throughout Alabama and Tennessee as a part of the Richmond Athletics Civic Engagement and Co-Curricular Programming. Kirby Mooney and George Washington III from men's basketball, Ava Milisits and Sydney Moore from soccer, and Jordan Jaffe from baseball will share their experiences with daily recaps on RichmondSpiders.com.
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Day Four: Jordan Jaffe
After learning about the history of the Civil Rights Movement in Alabama, we were on our way to Memphis, Tennessee. We made a quick stop in Tupelo, Mississippi to see the birthplace of Elvis Presley. Elvis was a major influence to the American people during the height of the Civil Rights Movement. His music would allow people to escape as WW2 was arising, especially as the radio was reaching its peak popularity. He broke boundaries by mixing different genres of music to create his own sound. His influences started with Gospel music in church, to the blues on the streets of Memphis. As Elvis rose to fame, Memphis became central to the Civil Rights Movement.
Arriving in Memphis, our first stop was the National Civil Rights Museum, which was connected to the Lorraine Motel, the place where Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated in 1968. This was such a great way to integrate the museum with real history, which made for a more immersive experience. This location symbolized the end of Dr. King's life but the continued fight for change in the United States. A quote that acted as a main theme throughout the trip was, "You can kill a man, but not an idea." African-Americans rallied around this philosophy, which kept them pushing forward during times of tragedy. Still grieving the death of her husband, Coretta Scott King carried out the planned march for the sanitation workers on strike, and soon after, the strike ended. The museum itself was very educational, and documented the history of African-Americans, all the way from their forced migration through the transatlantic slave trade, through the Civil Rights Movement and into modern day. Before this trip, I hadn't fully understood the significance of the Civil Rights Movement or the countless people who were abused, killed, and sacrificed their lives for equality in the United States. However, the museum offered me a deeper and unfiltered perspective.
Tuesday was the last day of the trip, and it began with a tour of the city with our wonderful guide, Queen. She was very charismatic and full of energy, which made the tour fun and engaging. She explained to us the history of the city and its trading route along the Mississippi, where it profited most off its sales of slaves and cotton. The city has placed informative signs around its streets to commemorate the unfortunate events that have taken place. The markers honoring lynching victims impacted me the most, and made me reflect on the unimaginable brutality that so many innocent people endured. Then, we arrived at the "I AM A MAN" memorial on the site of Clayborn church. This church served as the headquarters for the Memphis sanitation workers strike, which sparked after two black men were killed on a city truck. In 1968 the workers marched the streets holding signs that read "I am a man" and MLK's support gave it national attention. The memorial contained all the workers names involved in the strike who risked their lives to fight for better quality of life for the working poor. The memorial was reflective like a mirror, which served as a symbol that we are currently making history for future generations.
Our last stop was at Charlie Vergos' Rendezvous BBQ restaurant, which holds close ties to Richmond, as Charlie's grandson played football at Richmond. The Spider football helmet hanging in the restaurant made this feel like home away from campus. This also happened to be the BBQ I've ever had and my favorite meal of the trip. It was the perfect end to such an amazing and educational tour of the south, where I got to immerse myself in our country's history.
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