Nich’s Public Service Trip to Alabama
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As a Program Coordinator for Immersion Projects at the Center for Public Service (CPS), I had the opportunity to travel to Alabama this winter break and lead a group of 14 students (along with a program mentor) to study the Civil Rights Movement. CPS is a distinctive program at Gettysburg College that focuses on connecting students with local communities to promote social justice.
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For this particular program, I met with my program mentor and planned the itineraries for our pre-trip meetings. Our group met several times before the trip to get to know each other and to get a better sense of the historical context in Alabama during the 1960’s. I invited a professor from the Africana studies department to come speak to us about the Civil Rights Movement, and we watched and discussed the movie Selma.
Visiting the statue of Rosa Parks in Montgomery
Me and a friend taking a photo booth picture at the Equal Justice Initiative Museum
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Then, we left for Alabama where we visited three different cities: Montgomery, Tuskegee, and Selma. In Montgomery, we visited the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church where Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his first service, and we met with people who worked closely with him. We got to visit the location where Rosa Parks had her first bus boycott. We also visited the Equal Justice Initiative Museum in Montgomery, which was founded by attorney and social activist Bryant Stevenson. Through this museum, I was able to see how systematic oppression is still an issue in the US today, taking on the form of mass incarceration. When I came to Gettysburg College as a first year in 2018, we were asked to read his book Just Mercy as our campus-wide first year read. To be able to visit his museum and see the work he has done in Alabama was very surreal.
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The city of Selma and its history had the most impact on me. In Selma, we met many foot soldiers who walked from Montgomery to Selma and were on the frontiers of the Civil Rights Movement. We heard the story of a woman who, as a young girl, crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge to demonstrate her desire for voting rights and was beaten by the Alabama State Troopers. The sacrifice and the commitment they had to making positive changes in their community was simply inspiring. As an aspiring human rights attorney, all of these stories empowered me to fight against social justice within my own community.
Growing up in a small town in Cambodia, I have learned that there are many unfair cultural expectations that women should conform to. For example, we are expected to be housewives and pursing higher education is out of the ordinary. This upsets me. I was lucky to be able to break away from this norm with the support of my family, my school, and my peers who have always believed in me. However, there are many women in my community who do not have the same experience as me but deserve to have the same opportunity. If our hosts could do it in 1960’s Alabama, I too, can make a difference in Cambodia. |
At a mural of the Alabama State Capitol with our host, George
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