{"id":138028,"date":"2023-05-04T10:29:42","date_gmt":"2023-05-04T14:29:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/?p=138028"},"modified":"2023-05-04T10:29:44","modified_gmt":"2023-05-04T14:29:44","slug":"civil-rights-pilgrimage-drives-home-history-for-wright-state-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/2023\/05\/04\/civil-rights-pilgrimage-drives-home-history-for-wright-state-students\/","title":{"rendered":"Civil rights pilgrimage drives home history for Wright State students"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Wright State students visited sites in Ohio that were important to the Civil Rights Movement during a bus trip for the course The Roots of the American Civil Rights Movement in the Midwest and Heartland taught by Tracy Snipe, professor of political science.<\/p><\/div>\n

A Wright State University bus trip around Ohio was not the usual tourist excursion. It focused on past and present events in the Civil Rights Movement \u2014 and left a powerful impression on Wright State students.<\/p>\n

Tracy Snipe, Ph.D., professor of political science<\/a> in Wright State\u2019s School of Social Sciences and International Studies<\/a>, organized the March 31\u2013April 1 civil rights pilgrimage to complement his class The Roots of the American Civil Rights Movement in the Midwest and Heartland.<\/p>\n

He said the mission of the trip \u2014 which was primarily organized for students but included others in the Wright State and local communities \u2014 was to show that Ohio played a role in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s.<\/p>\n

Snipe said one student noted that the South comes to mind when talking about the Civil Rights Movement. \u201cThe student said the trip changed her viewpoint \u2014 which is what I was trying to accomplish,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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State Rep. Willis E. Blackshear Jr., a Wright State graduate from Dayton, addressed the students at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati.<\/p><\/div>\n

The group\u2019s first stop was the National Afro-American Museum and Cultural Center in Wilberforce. The second stop was at Miami University in Oxford, site of the former Western College for Women, where in 1964 volunteers for the civil rights initiative called Freedom Summer trained. The third stop was the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati.<\/p>\n

On the bus through an arrangement by Snipe, a South Carolina native, was Blondelle Gadsden, a relative of one of the nine people in a prayer group fatally shot at Mother Emanuel A.M.E. Church in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015. Snipe said she shared her insights into modern civil rights struggles and her sense of connectedness to Wilberforce.<\/p>\n

The bus returned to Wright State, exchanged some passengers, then left for Cleveland for an overnight stay. The next morning the pilgrimage continued to the East Cleveland Public Library, where the troupe met Samaria Rice, mother of Tamir Rice, the 14-year-old boy fatally shot in 2014 by Cleveland police who mistook his toy gun for a real one.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was the speaker who made the most of an impression,\u201d Snipe said of Rice. \u201cShe talked about the past importance of the movement and the present-day struggle. She captured what I wanted in this experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe part of the trip that made the biggest impression on me was the speech given by Samaria Rice,\u201d said Sierra Maben, a senior communication major with a focus in media studies from Oberlin. \u201cShe is such an amazing and strong woman. Samaria has not given up the fight for justice for her son and laws relating to such sickening tragedies.\u201d<\/p>\n

The last stop was at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. The bus returned to Wright State that evening.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll the sites had a great impression on me in different aspects,\u201d said Miannah Lawrence, an urban affair major and studio art minor from Dayton who expects to graduate this summer. \u201cAs an artist and creative, the National Afro-American Museum and Cultural Center had a deep impression on me. I also enjoyed the \u201cQueens of the Heartland\u201d exhibit showcasing 30 Black women who were architects of change, having ties to Ohio by birth or choice. Seeing the various paths these women excelled in and reading about their stories gave me inspiration.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Blondelle Gadsden, a relative of one of the nine people in a prayer group fatally shot at Mother Emanuel A.M.E. Church in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015, joined the bus trip.<\/p><\/div>\n

Snipe said an added benefit of the trip was \u201cthe ability to interact closely with professors and other students \u2014 the ability to have prolonged interaction and bonding experiences.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing surrounded by amazing peers who uplift you and experience these things in real-time with you is unmatched,\u201d said Maben, who expects to graduate in December. \u201cThere was so much culture experienced throughout this pilgrimage. It was nothing short of inspiring.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe civil rights pilgrimage created a space for learning, vulnerability, enlightenment and discussion,\u201d Lawrence said.<\/p>\n

She said it was emotional \u201cbut also eye-opening and a breath of fresh air. It encompassed many aspects of the Civil Rights Movement that often get overlooked in the Midwest, and Ohio specifically.\u201d<\/p>\n

Snipe said he may organize a similar trip next spring.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wright State students visited sites in Ohio that were important to the Civil Rights Movement during a bus trip. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":66,"featured_media":138037,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[722,725,747,715,4855],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-138028","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academics","category-home-news-sidebar","category-liberal-arts","category-news","category-social-sciences-and-international-studies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138028","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/66"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138028"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138028\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":138215,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138028\/revisions\/138215"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/138037"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}