Stephanie Holzbauer - Day Fourteen

On June 23rd our group made its way into Alabama’s capital, Montgomery, but not before we made visits to key sites in both Birmingham and Tuskegee that were pivotal to African American history. Firstly, we made our way through the innovative Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, whose interactive structure belied its purpose to our community: if we don’t consider Civil Rights history to be a living subject that we can always learn more about, then Cultural Leadership’s mission to give us the tools to create social change would be rendered impossible. This museum focused on the progression that took place in Birmingham in both a legislative and cultural sense, but also pointed out how oppression and discrimination is still embedded in social structures. We cannot not live in a post-racial society considering racism has embedded itself into the way our culture functions. The institute and the discussions following our visit made me think of why our organization is called Cultural Leadership in the first place, and it may be because we’re fighting issues of privilege and injustice that lie outside the legislative system and instead within our way of life. Yet, a shining example of a change agent whose determination to combat racist legislation is attorney Fred Gray, who currently practices in Tuskegee. We visited him while taking in the Tuskegee Human and Civil Rights Multicultural Center, and he discussed how he has done many things from representing Claudette Colvin, who we met in New York, to being the defense’s legal counsel in the case Hosea Williams v. George Wallace, which led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. His message, though, was not for us to tackle the problem of racism through the legal system like him, but to get into a profession where we can unconditionally help others. Considering we don’t live in a post-racial society, he made it clear that we must identify issues taking place in our community and follow through on taking action; essentially being leaders. Our group then perused the Multicultural Center in detail, and Fred Gray stated correctly that we were standing on holy ground due to the numerous ways that Tuskegee advanced rights for African Americans. Not only were numerous Tuskegee airmen trained at the town’s prestigious university, but it was the birthplace of Rosa Parks, and the source of major movements like those for voter registration. This museum itself was a unique experience because it discusses the contributions of many ethnic groups to the American way of life as opposed to reiterating civil rights accomplishments. Overall, day fourteen of our transformational journey pointed out differences in the challenges that change agents faced in the past and the ones that we currently face. Racism in modern society is more covert and therefore takes more than just the legal system to unearth, but our job as change agents for this generation is to respect the progress made while still attempting to overcome today’s most pressing social issues.