University of St. Thomas students who spent J-Term on the We March for Justice Civil Rights Study Trip were interviewed by WJTV and WLBT news media in Canton, Mississippi, during a history tour led by civil rights activist and Canton native Flonzie Brown Wright.
During a visit to the Canton Freedom House, students reflected on the legacy of the Civil Rights Movement and drew connections between historic struggles and present-day issues in the Twin Cities, including immigration fears.
They were accompanied by faculty in the College of Arts and Sciences, staff, and alumni, including Associate Professors Todd Lawrence and David Williard, as well as School of Social Work faculty Shanea Turner-Smith, and Bob Shoemake, a fellow in the Center for the Common Good. The group spent time in Memphis, the Mississippi Delta (Glendora), Jackson, Canton, and Oxford, and in the Alabama cities of Selma, Montgomery and Birmingham.
From WJTV:
From WLBT:
Students from the University of St. Thomas in Saint Paul and Minneapolis traveled more than 1,000 miles to Canton for a civil rights education tour, walking where trailblazers for change once stood and fought.
The students started their day at the Canton Freedom House, where they learned about contributions made by unsung heroes in the small town who made life better for people of color around the world.
“Just being in this space and in this area, feeling this energy, it’s very prominent that a lot of influential figures, a lot of events that happened, are shaping reality today. It’s very inspiring,” said Marco Brown, a history major at the University of St. Thomas.
“It was important to bring students down. You can read books, you can watch documentaries, but to go to the place where these things happened, to speak with the people who did it, to spend time with them - there is nothing that can replace that,” said Todd Lawrence, an English professor at the University of St. Thomas.
