The Journey
Mahoning Valley Sojourn to the Past is a leadership development, life changing experience that teaches students and adults about the Civil Rights Movement and motivates them to become warriors for social justice. The Journey is life changing! Students and adults realize they have the power to make a difference in their own lives and in their schools and communities, and they can make that difference right now!
The Journey
Our student leaders learn to “NEVER BE A SILENT WITNESS” with the goal of aiding the next generation in incorporating each of these lessons into their daily lives and become ambassadors of nonviolence and leaders for social and racial justice in their homes, schools and community. Students travel to Atlanta, Selma, Montgomery, Birmingham, Meridian and Hattiesburg (Mississippi), Jackson, Little Rock and Memphis, and they meet many of the people who participated in the Civil Rights Movement such as:
Jo Ann Bland, who participated in “Bloody Sunday” at age 11;
Sarah Collins, who lost much of her eyesight and lost her sister in the bombing of the 16th St. Baptist Church in Selma, Alabama;
Investigative reporter, Jerry Mitchell;
Angela Lewis, daughter of James Chaney, who was murdered during Freedom Summer in 1964;
Reena Evers, daughter of Medgar Evers who was the head of the NAACP in Mississippi and was assassinated by a Klans member;
The McNair family, the remaining relatives of one of the four little girls killed by the Klan in the church bombing in Birmingham;
Elizabeth Eckford and Minnijean Brown Trickey of the Little Rock Nine; and
The Dahmer family, the remaining relatives of Vernon Dahmer, killed for supporting voting rights for Blacks.
Link to Sojourn Project https://www.sojournproject.org/
A representative of the national Sojourn Project visits Youngstown high schools to speak to students about the lessons of the Civil Rights Movement and the weeklong Civil Rights journey called the Sojourn Project. Students are then able to fill out an application to participate in the weeklong experience. In order to be considered for the journey, they must write a short essay explaining why they want to participate and what they are willing to do when they return to Youngstown. Students are selected based on their essay as well as teacher and principal recommendations. Students must be willing to attend weekly sessions to read and discuss Congressman John Lewis’s book, Walking with the Wind. In addition to the three Youngstown City High Schools, students have participated from Howland, Columbiana, Ursuline, Urban Scholars, Valley Christain, and Cardinal Mooney High Schools. Adults are welcome to join our Mahoning Valley group as well.
Youngstown area Sojourn students meet weekly for several months before taking the journey to prepare for the trip. They read Congressman John Lewis’s book, Walking With the Wind and answer study guide questions. In the spring, students fly to the South, where they meet Jeff Steinberg, creator and director of the Sojourn Project, as well as many students from California and other states. This is a working journey for the students. They have lessons before meeting any speakers or going to any historical sites, and they have homework daily such as articles to read, questions to answer, letters to write to speakers, and a journal to keep. They have workshops on the principles of nonviolence and institutionalized racism. They learn that during the Civil Rights Movement, people were willing to suffer, even die, trying to gain equal rights.