A group of Overland Park students is going back in time.
"It's going to be so much more meaningful to be able to experience the Civil Rights movement in a hands-on way," said Julia Paul, 15.
Rather than reading about the Civil Rights movement, Julia and Joe Porter, 16, will experience it during a week-long trip to the south.
"We talk about history like it was way off in the past, and it doesn't affect us," said Joe. "But some of the stuff that was going on in the Civil Rights movement is still going on today. So it's important, not just because it happened then, but because it also happens now. You really have to learn about it and learn how it started so that we can learn how to end it and not let it happen again."
As part of the trip, 40
Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy freshmen and sophomores, including Joe and Julia, will walk in the footsteps of Dr. Martin Luther King, sit alongside Rosa Parks and learn how Jews aided African-Americans in their quest to gain equal rights.
"The path for justice is a never-ending path, so we can never be content that we are better than we were 20 years ago or 50 years ago," explained Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy principal Todd Clauer. "We want our students to be inspired both individually and collectively, so that they are connected to other human beings and other students, so that when they go into the adult world, they have the passion and skills to make a difference."
Juniors and seniors from the school traditionally go on a trip to Israel and Poland. This is the first year such a trip has been offered for the younger high schoolers.
"I am really not into history because I do not like learning out of a textbook about things that happened a long time ago and that don't relate to me," said Joe. "I can't really feel them or see them. One of the reasons why I am excited for this trip is because it's hands-on history. We really get to interact and feel what happened, not just read it."
The students will travel to Atlanta, Georgia, to do an MLK walking tour, to a former slave market and the Rosa Parks Museum in Montgomery, Alabama, and tour Selma, the location of historic marches.
"The roots of the Civil Rights movement and black history is not just the roots black people, African-American people or anyone with a particular religion or culture," said Julia. "It's really the roots of everybody and how everybody played a role in the civil rights movement."
Because, they said, it's not about black history or Jewish history, but American history.
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Terra Hall can be reached at terra.hall@kshb.com.
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