A Beautiful Sight

Yesterday in Atlanta, Georgia and Birmingham, Alabama was as jam-packed of a day as you could imagine. We first went to a church service at 8:00 at Ebenezer Baptist Church. This was an activity that took me way out of my comfort zone. Being Jewish, I had never been to church before. Back home, my family and I don't belong to a synagogue so I rarely go to services on Jewish holidays anyway. This was an incredible experience as the church welcomed us with open arms and everyone came together to sing "We Shall Overcome" at the end of the service- hand in hand- which was a beautiful sight. After the service we had the freedom to explore the many museums and monuments of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The part that stuck with me the most about this was walking through Dr. King's old church and hearing his last speech being played as I sat in the church. After our exploration of Dr. King museums, we split up the group into boys and girls and went on tours of Spellman and Morehouse Colleges (boys at Morehouse and girls at Spellman). From what I saw at Morehouse College, they have very close ties with Dr. King. It was a great learning experience to hear about the traditions that Morehouse College has and values. Next, we drove to Birmingham, Alabama to visit the Civil Rights Institute. Walking through the museum and looking at pictures and reading about the Civil Rights Movement, it felt as if I was really there and with the people in the movement. Hearing about the violence that the freedom riders faced really opened my eyes as to what people went through to make it so that we can actually have a trip like this with the people that are on it and do it together. Finally, we went to dinner with 3 civil rights activists, Cleopatra Gore, Barbara Mimes, and Catherine Burks Brooks. This was one of the most unbelievable experiences that one could ever have in one's life. We got to not only listen to, but also meet 3 activists that made it so that we can have integrated schools and trips and a black president of the United States. I actually got Barbara Mines to sign my journal and she wrote a little note thanking me for coming to hear her story. This was so amazing as I was talking to someone who fought for Civil Rights alongside many others and someone who was actually successful and able to see the result of her actions. When asked what she thought about having a black president of the United States, Barbara said "I never thought I would see Obama's inauguration" and Catherine said she was "Surprised. I didn't believe it until the end". There are only so many Civil Rights activists who are still alive today to see that their actions were successful and we met 3 of them yesterday, and THAT was a once in a life-time experience.

-Alex Kalvar