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Learning Hard History on the Road

Charlottesville residents took to the road this summer to learn how the past can help them construct a more just and peaceful present.
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Julie Bennett/Montgomery Advertiser

Suffering the Alabama heat in matching purple T-shirts, a group of about 100 Charlottesville, Virginia, residents hopped on and off charter buses in Montgomery on the sixth day of their pilgrimage. 

They first gathered soil near Charlottesville from the 1898 lynching site of John Henry James to deliver it to the Equal Justice Initiative’s Legacy Museum. They traveled to Appomattox and Dansville in Virginia, before heading to Greensboro, Atlanta, Birmingham and Selma, and then finally to Montgomery.

The group, which included educators and students from Charlottesville schools, was determined to bring dignity to James’ memory, dignity that was denied when a white mob snatched him off a train, hung him and riddled his body with bullets following accusations of assaulting a white woman. The trip allowed the travelers to connect past racial terrorism with the violence that rocked their city on August 12, 2017, and to trace how remnants of the past manifest in the lives of people of color daily. Visits to museums and historical landmarks reminded them of the resistance to white supremacy African Americans have consistently demonstrated throughout history. 

Organized by University of Virginia Associate Professor Jalane Schimdt and Andrea Douglas, executive director at Jefferson School African American Heritage Center, the journey was designed to educate, illuminate and invite reflection. 

Some moments were enlightening or heartbreaking; others were spiritual. Sit-in simulations in Greensboro were intense. Some people cried. Others couldn’t continue.  

Zyahna Bryant was among the students who joined the pilgrimage. She’s been active in her community and was the original petitioner calling for the removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee in Charlottesville. 

“I wanted to connect to a bigger and longer history of anti-racist work, because I believe that for every history of white supremacy and racism, there is a concealed story or a history of resistance or anti-racism and anti-racist work,” says Zyahna, a rising senior at Charlottesville High School. “So, I think that my reason for going was to just see that, yes, white supremacy is bigger than Charlottesville, but anti-racist work is also bigger than Charlottesville.”

Melvin Grady, an African American algebra teacher, was pleased with the pilgrimage. “I feel like I've learned so much,” he says. “I'm a math-based person, but I'm always trying to find the truth in things.”

He teaches his students to show love, tolerance and respect in his classroom. “I have that environment already, but now I can bring it back to ‘hey, things happened in the past and that's exactly why we should have more tolerance and love and respect for each other.’”

Although he teaches math, Grady sees room for him to share how we’re all connected through history and how we can triumph over a difficult past by diligently doing the work. “Just like two sides of the equation, [you] just got to balance it and make sure the truth comes out.”

My reason for going was to just see that, yes, white supremacy is bigger than Charlottesville, but anti-racist work is also bigger than Charlottesville.

Connecting the Dots

Charlottesville was thrust into the national spotlight because of the violence white supremacists enacted in the heart of the city. Many people were shocked that hate groups and self-identified members of the alt-right from across the country would descend on a town reputed to be a progressive haven in a conservative state. But some residents there say Charlottesville hasn’t always lived up to its reputation. In fact, they feel the city hasn’t addressed its history and, as a result, economic and educational disparities remain a reality of life.  

During the 1920s, city leaders pined for the Confederacy when they erected monuments to Lee and Stonewall Jackson near black neighborhoods. During the 1950s, they staunchly resisted desegregation efforts. In recent years, residents say there has been pushback on the Black Lives Matter Movement. Local activists also note the disparate way white supremacists were treated last summer, compared to black residents, who faced criminal charges due to counter-protest activities. 

Bryant believes the pilgrimage brought them full circle: confronting this history beginning with the lynching of James and linking his unjust treatment to a modern criminal justice system that disproportionately subjugates people of color. 
“We've come far but we haven't come that far, and our tactics are still so similar on the side of resistance and on the side of intimidation … It's just interesting to see the parallels,” Bryant says. 

 

What Kids Aren't Learning

When Jakia Maupin’s mother learned of the Charlottesville to Montgomery pilgrimage, she was eager for her daughter to join. Jakia, a 13-year-old honor student, said she wished the entire city could have gone on the trip. She recognizes that most students like her have only limited knowledge of the hard history that inspired—and continues to inspire—racial justice movements. 

While some history is introduced, Jakia says her lessons don’t offer in-depth exploration with connections to current day issues. “It's just the civil rights movement— it started and it ended, and then there's maybe two events in the middle that they teach you,” she says. “What I learned on the pilgrimage was way more intense and I got to learn about way more people than I would have in the school system.”

She believes more of the history of racism and injustice she learned on the pilgrimage should be acknowledged and documented in public spaces. But she’s okay with Confederate monuments remaining in her city. 

“I know it's not a good history that you want to keep in your head, not good memories, but it's still history and we have to keep in mind that if we don't understand and realize what's going on, history's going to repeat itself,” she says. 

Fourth-grade teacher Rachel Caldwell said the events of last summer lent new urgency to discussing the history she’d already woven into her curriculum. Her fourth-graders welcome these complex discussions, and she obliges. 

On the pilgrimage, she says students expressed their frustration with getting a first glimpse of this history at museums instead of school. 

“I don't want that to be the experience of my students,” she says. 

Caldwell says to begin digging into these difficult discussions, teachers should look at their own communities. She says students often haven’t learned what happened locally, pointing to her city’s integration story, the Charlottesville 12

“We talked a lot at the pilgrimage group about how can we make sure that our own history with slavery, Jim Crow and civil rights, is known and heard, especially by our students,” Caldwell says. “So, I feel really inspired to tap into some local history resources; to have many more guests come into the classroom; do a lot more thinking about our own local history here.”

She says since some teachers, particularly white women, don’t have a strong knowledge about hard history they are reluctant to even step into that territory. She challenges teachers to ensure their instruction is truthful, respectful and complete. But they must do the work. 

“Teachers have to dig a little bit deeper and decide to do a lot of that work personally,” she says. 

 

Looking Forward

Teachers returned to Charlottesville energized and inspired to share their experiences with other educators, students and peers. They returned, too, against the backdrop of anxiety among residents as they approach the anniversary of that violent day. Memorials and other events have been planned across the city, while the state of Virginia and the city declares a state of emergency ahead of the anniversary. 

Regardless of what transpires in the next few days, residents who attended the pilgrimage and activists in the community will continue doing the work. They vow not to provide a platform for white supremacy, but instead, remain motivated by the resilience of past freedom fighters to remain focused on creating an environment that is truly just. 

Dillard is the staff writer for Teaching Tolerance. 

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