JOURNAL ENTRY
By Grace
The Deep South Trip showed our class the truth of what happened, and in some cases, what is still happening, in the southern states of America. Reading about the racism in books, such as the abuse students encountered in their Sit-Ins, didn’t give me a full understanding of what it was really like. Reading about these awful things in books made it seem as if it wasn’t real, but when our class went to were it all started, I got a better understanding.
Once we were there, it was hard to ignore. Sitting in the stools, listening to the people screaming made it very real and scary. Their words surrounded you and filled you with fear. The sounds of the sirens and the shattering glass made us realize how full of anger and hatred many people were. Listening to the screams of people on television reacting to the fact that Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated made me understand how influential and inspirational MLK was to different communities. Looking back, I understand how you can’t fully understand a time in history unless you immerse yourself in the area and communities of that time. As many people have said, you can’t understand a person until you have walked a mile in his shoes. This saying applies to every school trip. Without learning about and seeing history first hand, you can never truly understand what happened.
Once we were there, it was hard to ignore. Sitting in the stools, listening to the people screaming made it very real and scary. Their words surrounded you and filled you with fear. The sounds of the sirens and the shattering glass made us realize how full of anger and hatred many people were. Listening to the screams of people on television reacting to the fact that Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated made me understand how influential and inspirational MLK was to different communities. Looking back, I understand how you can’t fully understand a time in history unless you immerse yourself in the area and communities of that time. As many people have said, you can’t understand a person until you have walked a mile in his shoes. This saying applies to every school trip. Without learning about and seeing history first hand, you can never truly understand what happened.