Greensboro, North Carolina

The International Civil Rights Center and Museum and the A&T Four

The thing that really stuck with me today was seeing Emmett Till. I first heard about his story when I was nine so it was nothing new, but I hadn’t seen his face in a few years. The change from a happy 14 year old to the brutalized body in that casket stung me. I keep thinking how that could’ve been me, how it can still be me. The hate and ignorance that still persists in this country is horrible and it requires action from everyone for things to change. 

-Ry

One thing that struck me was how there were so many Caucasians who wanted to be a part of helping integration become something normal. I loved that, because people realized that it’s not a race thing; it’s just hate. Something that relates to that in modern times is, for example,not only gay people fight for gay rights. Straight people do also. Same with Black Lives Matter; it’s not only black people that are protesting it. It’s all different shades.

-Shaniah

At first I kinda thought I had a good idea on the sit in that happened but after learning about what led the boys to do the sit in and how everyone believed in it so much that they kept it going even when they were harassed by anyone that hated them even wanting power. A theme from back then that sticks now is that, no matter what, is people’s outside appearance will trump what people have done, stand for, or want to do.

-Amber

Today, one thing that struck me was that after lynchings and different derogatory things that were done to people of color throughout the centuries, it was said that spectators took pieces of the victims’ body home as “souvenirs” of the lynching. This shows that not only were my people not seen as human beings, but they were seen by some as no more than a bookmark that one could buy at a museum gift shop. Today, as a Baltimorean, this problem is still prevalent in the city, but instead of outside races doing the killing it’s mostly black on black killings that happen in the streets of Baltimore. This mostly happens between young black men. 

-Kimberly

What struck me today was how time really repeats itself and how we reflect on the past but not in the future. Like how the cops still attack and abuses us. Like the lady said history repeats itself

-Mikaela

I keep bringing this up, but the Green Book really struck me today. I think it’s important that black people had a resource like that, but I also find it sad that this was necessary. Black business and safe spaces are important but not well known. I almost wish we had something like this today, but not for the same reasons. The purpose of the green book and the significance it held of pointing people of colour to places beneficial to their race is a theme we still see today. This comes in ways that would/should seem subliminal, like hair stores or shops. I think it’s a lot easier for someone of white decent to go somewhere and get their hair done. Speaking for myself I often have to search hard for hair products. This theme of spaces can also be seen in HBCUs. 

-Ise

Something that struck me was the idea of using economics/money as a form of protest to essentially force corporations or groups into meeting demands. I didn’t think much about the monetary aspect of protest. I see now how the Greensboro 4 not only used their presence as a form of protest of segregation, but used profit against the lunch counter manager, essentially twisting the managers arm into integrating without moving a muscle. I understand the concept of boycotting as a form of protest which utilizes money as a weapon, and I can relate that to South African apartheid and (hopefully) Amazon and other movements which involved boycotting in protest, but I think that the way that the Greensboro 4 used economics against the store manager was unique and I don’t see situations right now in which money can be weaponized in the same way, since at that time people were not boycotting out of support, but out of hate for and fear of the black students participating in sit ins.

-Sonee

After today I realized that are country isn’t all the way equal. America still has keep working to have equal rights. I know if we keep working on civil rights, America will be all the way equal.

-Nathan

Today was an amazing and motivating day! My emotions were all over the place because of some of the things that I experienced. We had the opportunity to go to a museum that focused on the A&T four, but also information on the Civil Rights Movement in general. One thing that really struck me was seeing the real KKK garment. And after seeing that, I saw what they actually did to multiple people, in particular black men. And to see the enthusiasm in their faces, and how they dressed as if it was a black tie affair, angered me. I realize now that these same events are still occurring even now in 2020. Now this violence is seen more with police officers, but it’s still a form of enjoyment, and something that is frequently happening to our people. I will always strive to have my face on that wall, and be the change that I want to see. I chose LOVE instead of HATE!
-Monyaé

What I have experienced/what struck me on the first day of the civil rights trip was that there are a lot of underrated activists who don’t get the recognition they deserve/underappreciated. I had experienced a sense of being uneducated on how the people before me helped make me the person I am today by fighting for equal and I wouldn't be in the same position I am today without them. A theme that is still recognizable in the present is Oppression because we see on the news about Police Brutality against people of color and there are still Sun Down towns in 2020 and having to work harder than the average American just to be as equal as the people who are in the same room as you

-Kai

One thing that struck me today was the level of success for African-Americans despite extreme oppression. From becoming one of the best air force squadrons in WW2 to becoming the first black female millionaire in the late 19th-early 20th century. These people overcame extraordinary odds that I cannot even begin to fathom.

I theme from the past I noticed that is still relevant today is the fear of changes. Back then, whites thought that integration challenged their livelihoods; now, immigration is the big fear. I found that as people start to encounter new people and have to adapt their normal way of life, they tend to resist the change.
-Chima

The story of the A&T Four struck me today because of how ordinary their lives were before the sit-ins. They just had nightly discussions every night and the idea for the sit-ins stemmed from that. It reminded me of my friends and I. It shocked me that something so monumental as changing laws and starting a country wide movement started with friends talking in their dorm room.

This idea of ordinary people making huge change in the civil rights movement is something I still see today. Whether it’s the continuation of fixing racial inequality or trying to tackle global warming the message is always that anybody can make a difference. As a young adult this is inspiring and makes me look forward for the future.

-Jack

The subject that stuck me the most today was when the tour guide said during the protesting time, a fourteen year old boy was brutally murdered. After that they send his body parts back to the mother and just to show people the truth about what happened, she had to keep her son body seen in public. Now I know how brutal and dangerous protesting was back then.

The education system didn't change at all, back than it was more about what race you are but now it depends on wealth. Poor schools get bad books and rich people get the good books and other things such as lunches, desks, and sometimes better grading systems. 

-Shakira

Today, we made our first stop at the International Civil Rights Museum in Greensboro, North Carolina. I had known about sit-ins and Woolworth’s, but I did not know how significant it was for the NCAT 4 to take charge in integration of public spaces. One important thought that one guide expressed to us today was that the speed for integration is relative. This stuck with me because I remember doing some research inspired by Traci and alongside Demara (my 10th grade math teacher/my first Black teacher) about Park’s desegregation, and in one of the documents, the head of school at the time called for integration, but said that it does not need happen immediately.

This is a theme that still resonates today, as the full integration of different spaces like PWIs and other areas where white people are in the majority will not happen due to the relativeness of integration. In reference to schools and institutions, diversity is what is at the forefront of administrators, boards, and principals, but true diversity cannot come unless white people are taken out of being the majority, and other groups’ history and cultures are celebrated in learning spaces.

-Lexi

While in Greensboro, North Carolina, I saw some saddening sights. For instance, there was a Coca Cola machine that was segregated! As the tour concluded, I realized that some of these events are still reoccurring. For example, just like when people began boycotting the buses and the government finally obliged, companies are still being boycotted and then they’ll apologize for what they’ve done. This was shown through big companies like H&M or the NFL. I believe that these companies hardly care about what they do or how much they offend people. I believe that they really care about how much money they will lose if they do not apologize. This is a major problem! Instead of patronizing people who use their powers to promote hate, we should turn our backs away from them and support people who care and appreciate us. 

- Kyla

Today I have experienced a lot of different things that I did not know happened, one thing that struck me the most was the bombing of the Baptist Church, this struck me because I wouldn’t have thought that they would attack a place of worship.

A theme from the past that is still relevant today is separating black people from white people because in some states that still have all white and all black school.
 -Zenoya

Today we made our first stop to the International Civil Rights Museum Greensboro, North Carolina. There we were given a tour around the museum and bombarded with information about how Greensboro played a role within the Civil Rights Movement but also about the trials and tribulations of the movement as a whole. One thing that stuck out to me the most was our tour guide explaining to us where “Jim Crow” was derived from. “Jim” was a derogatory title given to black men to disrespect them by not calling the men by their first name, and crow came from the idea that all black people were the color of crows. 

Coming from what I stated earlier black face was a tool that seemed to change the way white people in America viewed black people and caused the normal black family to be seen as dumb, lazy, and a menace to  society. Even in 2020 there are still cases of white people putting on black face. Though they are rare they still happen. Black face is no longer something that takes place is popular media yet white people portraying and using aspects of black culture for entertainment happens to this day. 

-Delayn

Today, we went to the International Civil Rights Center and Museum. The building was formerly the Woolworth where the “Greensboro Four” famously did a sit-in to desegregate the lunch counter. We got to see the original lunch counter where they sat. Besides the counter, one thing that struck me was a Coca Cola machine with two sides. On the side designated for white people to use, soda was 5 cents, and on the side for black people, it was 10 cents. I think this will stick with me because it is a physical representation of how blatantly unfair segregation was. I’m used to reading about the disparities from that time in textbooks, not looking at the artifacts that embody them.

One theme that the tour guides at the museum came back to a lot was the role of young people in creating social change. We learned a little bit about the “Project C” in Birmingham, Alabama, where children marched because they wouldn’t face the same repercussions as their parents would (ex. losing their house, job, etc). A lot fo those children still went to jail though. The Greensboro Four were only college freshmen. I think that today the circumstances and consequences for young activists are a lot less extreme. For example, participation in March for Our Lives was pretty widely accepted. Either way though, young people back then and today are the ones envisioning how the world ought to be and then, hopefully, working to make it that way.

-Talia

There are a few quotes that I am going to take away from today’s museum. The first was in the memorial section of the museum: it read, “Abducted, Beaten, tied to an engine” This was describing how two men were killed in the 1950’s. Not only is this cruel, but it is excessive, humiliating, and dehumanizing. Nobody deserves for their bodies to be dragged behind a car; it seemed to be a message of ‘this could be you’ to any non-white person seeing it. 

This leads into my second quote which was said by one of our tour guides. She mentioned the “normalization of dehumanization” When we talk about the civil rights movement now (and when I say we, I mean our group, not the entire world) we talk about everybody as humans. This was not the norm in the south by any means. It is sad to think that some people will never get to be treated how they should: as a human. However, they made a sacrifice so that we can live in a world where people are treated as people. Sadly, we have not completely lived up to their sacrifice, but we can - and we are trying to on this trip - still work towards that. Lastly, was a more hopeful quote. When the rioters from Greensboro were brought to jail, they said “jail no bail”. It is difficult to imagine a cause that I would voluntarily go to jail for, but these men and women could and did. I think that we should strive for this. It may be unrealistic for me (or anyone) to risk going to jail for anything right now, but shouldn’t we have that spirit to make our world better?

One theme that I can see often is the over generalization of Muslims, especially now with everything happening in Iran and Iraq. Yes, there are radical Muslims, but there are also radical Jews and Christians. Somehow with Jews and Christians, at least in Baltimore, we don’t seem to isolate them the same way we do Muslims. Realistically, we are exactly the same. Even our religions, are almost exactly the same. If we generalized every group of people by the worst people part of it, then we would all be pretty hated. The Civil Rights Movement fights against a similar issue: judging people that are the exact same as us. This should not happen anymore. 

-Aaron

I  love fun facts, so when I learned that white people had raised the price of Coca-Cola as well as tear out the cooling system of the machines in Greensboro, and I think in many other southern states, I was surprised to find out that Coca-Cola was embarrassed as a company and demanded their machines back. I started thinking about why I was surprised by this (even though it was the right and moral thing to do), then I realized that today you can see how companies are standing by in complicity. Companies such as Gucci and Burberry that released obviously racist products and only rescinded them after being publicly shamed. It’s odd to think that almost seventy years ago, in the heat of segregation, knew the simple difference between right and wrong.

Another thing that resonated with me was what our last tour guide kept repeating. She said that there is no use in learning about our history, if we don’t look at our world today and see the remnants of our supposed past life. Such as redlining of neighborhoods, often grouped by race, that showed banks which people not to give loans to based on where they live. Another example is denying people their right to vote. Back then they made non white citizens take an unnecessary literary test, nowadays there has been evidence of districts hiding ballot boxes from historically black voting centers. For the rest of the trip I want to keep what she said in mind so that I can find other examples.
-Becky

today we went to the greensboro civil rights museum, which is centered around the 1960 lunch counter sit-ins. rather than feeling proud of the sacrifices made by the students like David Richmond and Franklin McCain, i was ashamed of my own privilege and my lack of action towards current issues that are just as paramount as the civil rights movement was. these four boys, freshman in college, had the courage to confront segregation laws, not only in Greensboro but nationwide.

what was it like to be a black man in the 1960’s? what is it like to be a black man in 2020? one of the four men that took part in the initial sit-in described the intense suicidal thoughts in his youth. you’re seeing these gruesome, extremely cruel, and horrible pictures of men being lynched for the enjoyment of a crowd. and the men being hanged look just like you. so i wonder where does the courage come from, to leave the house, let alone protest fifty year old anti-black institutions? it breaks my heart because it seemed to me that for the greensboro four, it reached a point where it was not only a matter of courage, but a matter of necessity.

almost everything in that museum connects to a theme from today. our tour guide emphasized that the modern justice system is just reproduced slavery. but i think the theme that hit home for all of us was when she said “it’s not a black and white thing, it’s a love and hate thing.” during 9/11 the country was so quick to incriminate and discriminate against an entire country. but it’s not race v. race, it’s who loves and who hates. who is infringing on someone else’s liberties when exercising their own.

-Hope

One thing that struck me from what we saw and learned today is the way that the Greensboro sit-ins exploded. Four young black men at A and T University came up with an idea and had to take a plunge and do it, not knowing what would happen and putting their lives on the line. In a matter of days, participation multiplied practically exponentially. An incredible number of people saw a way to do something about an inhumane system that had been a part of many people's entire lives and fully committed themselves to it. It's like a door was cracked and people saw the opportunity in pouring through.

One theme from the past that is still relevant today is how white people and US governments have mistreated  and dehumanized black communities through access to clean water. When water fountains were segregated, white people would often trash them and make them unusable. This involved hateful individuals, but it also must have involved government that did not take care to make them usable again. When I think about this problem today, I of course think of Flint, Michigan, but I also think of all the schools in Baltimore with unusable water fountains due to high levels of lead. Water is a fundamental need of human beings, and disrespecting water sources for and in black communities seems like another way of dehumanizing them.

-Isabel