First Year Civil Rights Tour

The MLK Scholar Civil Rights Tour is essentially one of the first steps to truly becoming an MLK scholar. 

A shared experience by every scholar in the program, the Civil Rights Tour gives a very real presence to the history that freshmen scholars are taught in their U.S. Civil Rights Seminar (CSCR 12000-01). This history spans the trials and tribulations of the civil rights movement, highlighting the unsung heroes of the movement, the tragedies that pushed the call for change, and the successes of the people who persevered. This history also provides MLK Scholar freshmen a context from which to understand agency and the power of will and collaboration. 

After learning this history, freshman scholars walk it. When the college's Fall Break begins, scholars travel to various sites in Atlanta, Birmingham, and Selma and make tangible connections to the stories they have learned. These sites include places like Kelly Ingram Park, the Civil Rights Museum, the 16th Street Baptist Church, the Southern Poverty Law Center, the Edmund Pettus Bridge, Martin Luther King Jr's Birth Home, and many more. Scholars also have the opportunity to meet people who took stands during the civil rights movement, and to meet courageous individuals still fighting for equality today.

After the trip, scholars take what they learn and form it into the Civil Rights Presentation, which is presented to the entire school as part of IC's Martin Luther King Day celebration. For an example, look below. This video, entitled "I Am Because We Are", is part of the Class of '15 first year scholar presentation, presented in Spring of 2012.