I've created a web site to archive all issues of this journal. You can find the entire series, along with photographs (and probably some documents before we're done) at http://www.dennisdeery.com/wrlp.

You're receiving this email because I've taken the liberty of signing you up for this journal. You can expect to receive emails about every other month, following each of our 11 seminars over two years. If you wish to stop receiving these emails, please hit Reply, type remove and send the message - you will be automatically removed from the list. If you choose to keep receiving the email, and would like more detail on any topics covered, please don't hesitate to drop me an email. I look forward to any feedback you might care to offer!

Dennis Deery
dennis@irose.com
 

For this week-long seminar, we would once again take to the air in two groups to rendezvous at our first stop, Atlanta, Georgia. Our hotel was just down the street from CNN Center, and just across the street from Centennial Olympic Park, site of the bombing during the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta. Our first evening in Atlanta was spent viewing and discussing some videos on race, followed by our usual night out to get reacquainted with each other.

Sunday morning we were up bright and early, headed off to church services at Ebenezer Baptist Church. Ebenezer was Martin Luther King Jr.'s home parish at the time of his murder. Dr. King was assistant pastor, and his father was the pastor of the church. The church building from that era is now part of the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site, and the parish has built a newer church across the street. We had some time to explore the beautiful church grounds and visitor center before the service began.

Judging from everyone's demeanor, I think we all were experiencing a little bit of trepidation before we went to the church service. Part of that was no doubt time-related - the church service was listed in a three-hour time block on our agenda, and I certainly wondered if we really would spend three hours in church.

The answer to that was "yes", but it would be three incredibly enjoyable hours. Much of the service was what you might expect from pop culture portrayals of Baptist churches. There was a full choir and band that provided just incredible music. As we'd been warned ahead of time, people were dressed up for church, with most ladies in dresses, and lots with hats as well. The service was much less regimented than I'm used to, being raised in a quiet Catholic parish in Wisconsin. The church bulletin listed the format of the service, which was pretty much alternating music and preaching. The bulletin also pointed out times for entering and leaving the church, which were generally during the music portions. I noticed throughout the service that people would come and go, many not attending the entire three hour service. About half way through the service, our group noticed Coretta Scott-King, Dr. King's widow, come into the church with Dr. King's sister. We would learn later that Mrs. King still regularly attends services at the church.

Part way through the service schedule there was an entry in the church bulletin for greeting visitors. The pastor asked visiting college students and pastors to stand. Then some small groups were introduced and asked to stand, including ours. The entire church erupted in applause to welcome us to the church. The pastor then announced a pause in the church service so that everyone could welcome their visitors. Everyone in the church began milling around, and I felt like everyone came up to me and shook my hand, giving each of us an amazing personal welcome to their church. This went on for probably 15 minutes, giving us a chance to chat briefly with a lot of the parishioners.

The entire church service was very much like the greeting, somewhat informal and unscripted, not demanding but certainly accepting participation from the congregation. The only part of the service that was recited was a short bible reading done by the whole church. Most of the rest of the service was oration by one of the several pastors performing the service, and of course singing by the choir. Parishioners joined in at will, uttering and shouting Amens and um-hms. All told, I was surprised to find this one of the most incredible faith experiences I've ever had.

After the church service, we were treated to a lunch in the basement of the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church basement, their Fellowship Hall. We were joined by one of the current pastors at Ebenezer, and he spoke with us about the church's modern-day activities in community outreach. Someone asked the pastor about something many of us had noted during the church service - the sermons discussed current issues and the moral and spiritual approaches to them. The pastor explained to us that after slavery ended, when illiteracy was high in the African American population, the church became not just a place of worship but a place for the community to become informed. Over time, this has led to black churches being very socially and culturally informed and active. This theme would be repeated throughout the week as we learned more about the central role of churches in the civil rights movement.

The rest of the day Sunday we had on our own to explore the King historical sites, including the home where Dr. King was born, just up the street from Ebenezer, and Dr. King's grave site.

(As I finish writing this, President Bush is being booed and jeered during his visit to the MLK grave site. And rightly so, in my opinion. The policies of the Bush administration run counter to nearly everything Dr. King stood for. If President Bush truly wants to honor Dr. King, he should revise his administration's policies on war, affirmative action and services to the underprivileged. Simply laying a wreath on his grave, especially as a sideline to a fundraising trip, is a hollow, offensive gesture.)

Monday morning we were off to Georgia State University for some videos and group discussion. After lunch we heard from a Georgia State professor about some of the history of African Americans in the United States. After the presentation from Dr. Jones, we were fortunate to catch a rally for Howard Dean's presidential campaign. In another of those WRLP coincidences, the rally just happened to be going on across the street from our meeting place at Georgia State. Dr. Dean was on campus to announce his Generation Dean youth initiative.

Monday evening we were on our own. Several of us decided to go out for ribs and then to a blues bar. We caught a cab to the Virginia-Highland area of Atlanta and found a bar for ribs, where we just happened to run into the Dean campaign crew. After a great dinner of ribs, we headed to Blind Willy's, an Atlanta legend for blues. We saw a couple of great acts, including a guy by the name of Lotsa Poppa, an elderly gentleman that had to weigh over 300 pounds. While he could hardly walk to the stage, once he did he could really sing! We spent a good, long night, and on a Monday night we were nearly the only people in the bar, giving us a chance to chat with the musicians when they took breaks.

Tuesday morning it was back to Georgia State for a panel discussion about depictions of African Americans in the media. We heard from a pair of college professors and the Southern Bureau Chief for National Public Radio.

After lunch we headed off for tours of Spelman and Morehouse Colleges in Atlanta. These schools are historically black colleges, both over 100 years old. I had heard of historically black colleges, but didn't really know any details, so these tours, which gave us a good history of the schools, were quite helpful. Spelman and Morehouse are both private institutions, with Spelman getting much of it's early funding from the Rockefeller family.

At Morehouse, Martin Luther King Jr's.' alma mater, we were given a great welcome talk by Dr. Lawrence Carter, the dean of the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel on the campus. Dr. Carter, also a professor of religion at Morehouse, talked with us about the history of Morehouse in a conference room where the walls were covered with photos of leaders of the civil rights movement. He told us a little bit about Dr. King's time at Morehouse, including his tutelage under Dr. Howard Thurman, which was a new name to me. Dr. Thurman was a mentor to Dr. King, during his education and throughout his leadership in the civil rights movement. Dr. Thurman was a proponent of nonviolence and certainly influenced Dr. King's approach to the civil rights movement. (Inspired by Dr. Carter's use of several Thurman quotes, I've since read a couple of Dr. Thurman's books and found them to be quite inspiring.) When Dr. Carter finished his talk with us, he presented us all with copies of his book Walking Integrity, a biography of Benjamin Mays, a former president of Morehouse College. As if this wasn't gift enough, Dr. Carter even took the time to sign each of our books. We were then given a tour of the Morehouse campus, where we learned about the huge workload Morehouse students are expected to carry.

After our campus tours, we loaded onto the bus for the drive to Tuskegee, Alabama. Along the way, we watched the video Tuskegee Airmen as an introduction to our Wednesday activities.

Upon arrival in Tuskegee, we went to the fledgling Tuskegee Human & Civil Rights Multicultural Center to learn about the Tuskegee Experiment. Once again, this was a part of history that I'd heard a little about, but didn't know a great deal. In 1932, the U.S. government decided to study the high incidence of syphilis on some rural areas. They selected the area around Tuskegee and located a number of men suffering from syphilis. The men were told they would participate in a six-month free health program. The experiment would, in fact, last until 1972, and there would be 600 unknowing, unwilling participants. Though government researchers knew that the participants had syphilis, they were not treated or informed of their disease - the purpose of the experiment was simply to observe the effects of untreated syphilis. The Multicultural Center also showed videos of participants and doctors in the experiment. It was nothing short of chilling to view these videos and realize the callousness required to inflict this kind of treatment on another human being.

We heard about the experiment from Fred Gray, an Alabama lawyer who helped the Tuskegee survivors file, and win, a class-action lawsuit against the government. Mr. Gray was a fascinating speaker with a long history in civil rights law. He served as lawyer to Rosa Parks when she was arrested in Montgomery in 1955, touching off the Montgomery bus boycott. Mr. Gray has participated in civil rights actions across the south, including lawsuits responsible for integrating all of the Alabama state universities.

Next we went to the Kellogg Executive Conference Center at Tuskegee University for dinner with a couple of people from the Alabama Leadership Program. I think we were all a little surprised at the different viewpoint on race relations that we received from these folks.

Wednesday morning we started with a tour through the George Washington Carver Museum on the Tuskegee University campus. The museum provided information on both Booker T. Washington, founder of Tuskegee University, and George W. Carver, a professor at the school. I'm sure most of us learned about Carver, the peanut guy, when we were in grade school. I was surprised to learn how many incredible things Dr. Carver accomplished. He focused his efforts on helping farmers to increase their economic independence, inventing plant hybrids, fertilizers and new products made of peanuts, sweet potatoes and other plants. Most amazing, he recognized the importance of environment to humans, and discovered ways to use plants and soils to produce paints. He created matching palettes of colors that could be used by poor farmers to beautify their homes, and found ways to weave corn stalks and burlap bags into decorative hangings. In short, he took a holistic view of living, something that is just becoming more widely known now, 100 years later. He even took his show on the road, traveling the countryside to spread his knowledge.

Next up was a tour of the Tuskegee University campus. The University is a beautiful collection of red brick buildings. Many of the original buildings, including The Oaks, the University president's home, were constructed by early students at the University, right down to crafting the bricks used in the construction.

We left the university late in the morning for a visit to Moton Field, the training base for the Tuskegee Airmen during World War II. The Tuskegee Airmen were a segregated unit of black pilots during World War II, the first black pilots in the U.S. Armed Forces. Throughout the war, 992 pilots graduated from Tuskegee Army Air Field (as Moton Field was known then) training. Units formed in Tuskegee went on to serve with distinction in the European theater, earning two Presidential Unit Citations. They earned renown by escorting 200 bomber missions over Europe without the loss of a single bomber to enemy fire.

The Moton Field museum is just getting started, so we had limited educational displays to look at. However, we had the great honor of talking with one of the Tuskegee Airmen to be trained at Moton Field, Colonel Herbert E. Carter. It was simply incredible to hear stories about his training and experiences in WW II. Though Colonel Carter was over 80 years old, you could see the gleam of a young man's eyes as he told us about his service.

(Click here for some great info about all our Tuskegee stops)

From Tuskegee, we hopped on the bus and headed to Montgomery, stopping first at the Rosa Parks Museum. As I'm sure you all know, Rosa Parks touched off the Montgomery bus boycott when she refused to give up her seat to a white man in 1955. Touring this museum, I was surprised at how few details I really knew about Rosa Parks' story. There had been an earlier bus boycott in Montgomery, but it didn't carry on long enough to force the city of Montgomery to integrate their bus system. Mrs. Parks volunteered with the NAACP in Montgomery, and had been to seminars on civil disobedience and non-violent demonstrations. I'd always had the impression that Mrs. Parks action was an unplanned spur-of-the-moment act, but she had, like most good leaders, prepared and planned ahead so when her moment came she would be ready.

The boycott touched off by Mrs. Parks was really an amazing feat of organization and bravery involving so many people. Leaders of the boycott organized carpools, and people worked together in many ways to provide blacks with transportation other than the city bus system. While this was going on, the city of Montgomery made many moves to shut the boycott down, such as trying to regulate ride-providers as taxi services so they could not accept money for the use of their vehicle. People involved in the boycott held regular meetings, usually at community churches, to show their solidarity and provide moral support to each other. In the meantime, boycott organizers pursued legal action to eliminate the bus segregation. The boycott would eventually stretch to 381 days, but in the end it was successful when the U.S. Supreme Court would rule the segregation unconstitutional.

While at the Rosa Parks Museum, we were given a presentation by people from the Southern Poverty Law Center. The SPLC was formed as a civil-rights law firm in 1971. Since that time, they have developed an international reputation as a group that tracks and opposes hate groups. While much of our seminar to this point had focused on the civil rights actions of the past, we learned from our presenters that the war against intolerance is still going on. We were even given information on hate groups that are active within the state of Wisconsin, highlighting for us that no area is free of intolerance. We also had a brief stop at the SPLC's headquarters, which is home to a beautiful civil rights memorial designed by Maya Lin, who also designed the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, DC.

Wednesday evening was spent at the Holt Street Baptist Church in Montgomery. The Holt Street Baptist Church was where the first Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) meeting organizing the Montgomery bus boycott was held. The night before the boycott was to begin, the MIA gathered over 5,000 citizens at the church to launch the boycott. The MIA had earlier voted Martin Luther King, Jr., at the time a Montgomery pastor, to lead the boycott. This was to be the beginning of Dr. King's role as a public leader of the civil rights movement. You can read a transcript of the Holt Street meeting here.

We started our evening with a brief stop at the Holt Street Baptist Church which was in use during the bus boycott. This church has now been closed, and the parish is raising money to create a museum in the church building. We then drove to the new Holt Street Baptist Church for dinner and a panel discussion. We were joined by two ladies who were personally involved in the bus boycott, as well as some representatives from the church and a pair of historians. It was wonderful to hear stories from the ladies about their experiences during the boycott. We all chuckled to hear that Dr. King was not in attendance at the meeting where the boycott was initially planned, when organizers voted him to be the leader - something that's happened to most of us when we miss meetings, though certainly not on that scale.

At its most basic, the boycott was the act of a community banding together to change something that needed changing. The boycott worked because people went out of their way to help each other. One of our speakers even told of being given occasional rides by white citizens, though often only when no other whites were around to see. After our panel discussion, we were treated to a great church dinner of southern favorites, then we loaded onto the bus for the drive to Birmingham.

We started our last full day in the south at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute (BCRI), a museum of the civil rights movement. We began by hearing talks from several people involved in both the civil rights movement and the founding of the BCRI. Once again, history came alive as we heard stories from the people who were there. I was struck, here and everywhere else, by the complete lack of bitterness in all the people we spoke to. They had survived some incredibly difficult trials, but they all seemed to be looking forward, still working to make sure their gains in the past did not go for nothing.

We had some time to tour the BCRI as well. I greatly enjoy most any museum, and I can honestly say the BCRI was no different. It was easily one of the most well-designed museums I've ever been to, incorporating a wide range of personal stories into a timeline of the entire civil rights movement.

After lunch at the museum, we walked across the street to the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church. On a Sunday morning in 1963, this church was bombed by the Ku Klux Klan, killing four young girls. This church, like many others, played a central role in the civil rights movement, serving as a rallying point for several marches in Birmingham. Even though four suspects were found and the Birmingham FBI office recommended prosecution, no action was taken. In 1977 the case was reopened and the first bomber was tried and sentenced to life in prison. In 1994 one of the bombers died, having escaped any prosecution for the crime. The final two bombers were brought to justice in 2001 and 2002, both sentenced to life in prison. It was enough to chill your blood to see videos of these men walking away from prosecution in the early 1960's, saying on camera that the victims deserved to be killed.

One of our speakers at BCRI, Colonel Stone Johnson, joined us for a tour of Kelly Ingram Park, across the street from BCRI and the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church. Kelly Ingram Park, known then as West Park, was the site of many marches and protests during the civil rights movement. It was the site of absolute horrors perpetrated by the Birmingham city government, including unleashing attack dogs on the protesters, using water cannons on them, even imprisoning 1,000 children who participated in marches, some as young as six years old. The park is now the site of a memorial to the movement. The park is filled with statues depicting the struggles, both low moments and high. Colonel Johnson, a man 87 years old, nearly ran us around the park because we were short on time. Mr. Johnson participated in many of the marches, and at times served as Dr. King's driver when he visited Birmingham. Hearing stories of the marches from Mr. Johnson, it was hard to believe the brutality that people of this country inflicted on others such a short time ago. Colonel Johnson's face showed the wear of many hard years, but his friendly spirit left us all feeling uplifted after our tour.

And finally it was time for our wrap-up. We had a quiet dinner together to try and process some of what we'd learned through this week. We were all, I think, more exhausted than we'd ever been, both physically and spiritually. We had seen some of the worst history our country has to offer, but we had also seen the successes that leadership and perseverance can bring.

I know this has been a long write-up, my longest yet. I hope you managed to stick with it until the end. I can honestly say that this seminar was a life-changing event for me. I think back to the things I learned quite often, and I know Dr. King's example has caused me to look at my beliefs. This write-up included more links than usual as well. I encourage you to follow them, and do a bit of reading. Be sure to check out some of Dr. King's and Dr. Thurman's writings as well - both men were incredibly talented writers, and they truly show the power of words. Also, be sure to check out my photos from this seminar - there was a lot to see as well as a lot to learn.

Well, I'm still a bit behind on my write-ups. The next one you receive will be about our global economics seminar, which took place last November. Our next seminar is coming up next week in Eau Claire, and hopefully shortly after that I'll be caught up on my writing. Our group is currently looking forward to March, when we'll depart for our two-week international seminar in Australia.

For more information about the Wisconsin Rural Leadership Program, check out their web site at http://www.uwex.edu/ces/wrlp/.