The Student Affairs Division at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette will be hosting the Mississippi Civil Rights Bus Tour on Saturday, March 19 from 7:30 a.m. to 11 p.m.
The event will give students the opportunity to learn about the Civil Rights movement by exploring several landmarks in Jackson, Mississippi. All students are welcomed.
Dean of Students Margarita Perez said that there will be a packet given to each student, containing multiple pages of information with a QR code at the bottom to learn more about each stop along the way.
Perez shared how important the tour is for students.
“I think we can learn from history, and I think it’s important to know the history of the Civil Rights Movement; the way that ordinary people took an extraordinary risk to blaze the trail for future generations,” Perez said. “I think we can take those lessons and put them to use in everyday life.”
The Student Affairs Division at UL Lafayette decided to create a packet for students who may not know much about the bus tour.
Brianna Sleeth, an interior designer senior, shared her thoughts on the upcoming tour.
“I think it’s a great idea because, especially in today’s political climate, I feel like it’s important to remember where we came from, and I think it would be really important for people of today to go to famous monuments where serious events took place,” Sleeth said. “I honestly wish I could go, because I feel like this would be very beneficial to not just me but also my knowledge in telling other people about where we came from in our history.”
Other students think that this tour will benefit students in understanding current events.
“I think people need to realize that there are still some political situations that are still happening to this day, and it’s important to learn the past mistakes of others so that we, as a society, do not repeat history,” freshman Olivia Martyn, majoring in Kinesiology, said.
This event will be held more as a field trip than an actual school program. Rather, it is a volunteer trip for the students of Lafayette to gain knowledge of the Civil Rights Movement.
On the website, students can read facts about how the Civil Rights Movement was born, and how Mississippians stood up for what they believed in.
“Rev. George Lee of Belzoni was killed after speaking at a 1955 voter registration rally, and about a Jackson synagogue that was bombed in 1967 after Rabbi Perry Nussbaum spoke out in support of racial justice,” the website reads.
“The Greyhound Bus Station in Jackson where the riders disembarked is now part of the trail. Markers are also found at a Biloxi beach where a peaceful wade-in was met with violence in 1960, on the grounds of the State Capitol where James Meredith’s ‘March Against Fear’ concluded in 1966, and outside William Chapel in Ruleville where early civil rights activists gathered for meetings.”