by Jordyn Newsome
The Civil Rights Movement started around the 1950s, and its influences still ripple through America. The Civil Rights movement was pioneered by black Americans tired of the unfair and violent treatment they were subjected to by systems designed to make minorities fail. While the fight for fair rights still goes on today, it is important to remember where it all started. This is why the Atlanta-based Civil and Human Rights Museum exists: to remind us of our past and just how far we’ve come.
I originally went to the Center in middle school for a field trip. I remember learning a lot of new information about the American Civil Rights movement at the time. It was the first time I’d heard of the Freedom Riders and the brutality they had to deal with. There was also an area where we could pick up phones off the wall and listen to recordings of those who’d been arrested for protesting. Some things that were here this time weren’t last time, like an area recreating the setting for MLK’s funeral. I think the recent additions have improved the center greatly.
One attraction was a memorial dedicated to those who died in the Civil Rights movement, or deaths that led to the Civil Rights movement. Important figures like Emmet Till and MLK were featured, along with a recording of Martin Luther King Jr’s funeral playing. The screen with his funeral had pews lined up in front of it to mimic the experience of actually being at his funeral. This highlighted the huge effect his death had on America, and especially within the black community. It also outlined how deaths from racism and police brutality spurred on the Civil Rights movement. It was very somber, yet educational.
Another museum experience was “Walk in Somebody’s Shoes.” This allowed visitors to pick a random pair of shoes from a selection of boxes lined against the wall. Each shoe box was supplied with an MP3 player, telling the story of the person who owned those shoes in the past. The visitor can choose whether or not to physically wear the shoes, and they are provided with earbuds to listen to the recording of the person’s story. I chose to wear the shoes, and was given the story of an older black British man who participated in a peaceful protest after his friend was killed by an incident involving police brutality. In the protest, he destroyed multiple police cars. This experience showed me through sound and action that the idea that racism only exists in America is false, and that black people around the world all face discrimination.
Another notable experience was a mini-movie about the struggles of the Freedom Riders. It was set in a room where the outside looked like a bus. The inside had bus seats for us to sit in and immerse ourselves in the experience. We sat in the room and learned about the things the Freedom Riders, a civil rights group, had to deal with. They were repeatedly assaulted and targeted by racists, all because they were trying to fight prejudice in America. The group was made up of both black and white individuals, who chose to struggle through the oppression of others to fight for what they believed in. Their story was both inspiring and heartbreaking learning of the oppression they had to face.
The Civil Rights museum was an informative experience, and an important part of preserving black history, as well as civil rights history around the world. I would recommend anyone interested in history, especially the struggles of minorities, to visit it and learn more about their heritage or the dark parts of America’s past. If we don’t learn history, we are doomed to repeat it.
