Day 7: The End = A New Beginning

It seems all too fitting to end our seven-day odyssey in Atlanta along Auburn Avenue. This location has long been the heart of Black Atlanta. It is also the birthplace of Martin Luther King, Jr., the location of his home church Ebenezer Baptist, and the site of his and Coretta Scott King's tombs.



The students spent the morning taking in the sites along Auburn. Each time I have visited, there is always a buzz throughout the couple of blocks between Ebenezer and the King birth home. Saturday was no different. We saw local folk going about their daily routines, tourists taking in the sites, school groups like ours absorbing the historical information at every turn, and even families using the surroundings as a background for organized reunions. Amazingly, we bumped into the very youth group from the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute who toured us through their facility three days earlier.

The National Park Service operates a visitor center devoted to King's work and legacy. It holds an intimate but informative museum complete with a hands-on children's section, engaging video clips, and several artifacts from the era. What I found most engaging, however, was a brief 15-minute film titled "Children of Courage," which accounted the contributions of young men and women throughout the Movement. The film also showed a contemporary classroom of students the age of the Stratford-Richardson youth. They all voiced a promise to continue the positive work of King, John Lewis and Dianne Nash, the Little Rock 9, the Children's March veterans, and hosts of others who prepared the way for this generation.

Few, including me, feel that the sacrifices and victories of the Movement veterans have solved every problem facing our society. Hard, yet rewarding, work remains to make the "beloved community" that King and others envisioned a reality. With a new generation being introduced to the impact that Movement participants had on their society, I feel confident that young people, like those at the Stratford-Richardson YMCA and the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute (and many of other organizations doing positive work), will look for ways to be positively engaged in their communities, nation, and world.



Our work doesn't end with the culmination of this tour. . . . Here is where we begin.

In just 10 days, the participants on the tour will meet to develop ways to share their experiences with the broader community. One way that we plan to accomplish this is through an exhibit of photography and student reflection. Please re-visit the blog, stay in touch with me or the Stratford-Richardson YMCA for upcoming information.