|
The Sojourn Project is a civil rights education project that takes
high school students from around the nation to historical civil rights landmarks
throughout the South. From time to time, we use this newsletter to publicize our
program and encourage involvement from the African-American community. For more
information about the program, please visit http://www.sojournproject.org.
INDEPENDENCE COMMUNITY
FOUNDATION GRANT SUPPORTS CIVIL RIGHTS EDUCATION
PROJECT IN BROOKLYN For Immediate
Release –
January 30, 2001 BROOKLYN,
N.Y. -- On
the eve of Black History Month, the New York chapter of the Sojourn civil rights
project today proudly announced the receipt of a grant from the Independence
Community Foundation (ICF) that will underwrite a Brooklyn public high school
student for a 10-day travel-study program to civil rights landmarks in the
South. The student will join a
group of New York City and California students who qualify for expeditions
scheduled for spring 2001. In
addition to this student scholarship, the ICF grant will provide organizational
support for Sojourn to present a course on civil rights history to students from
Brooklyn high schools and non-profit programs. Marilyn G. Gelber, Executive
Director of ICF, said: “Independence Foundation is pleased to support such a
worthy project. We are particularly
delighted that this $5,000 grant will allow a Brooklyn student to explore
firsthand the roots of our nation’s civil rights movement and personally observe
the extraordinary change that leaders like the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
helped to bring about. By understanding history, young people will be better
prepared to combat bigotry today.” ICF’s advocacy on behalf of
Sojourn has been a vital factor in successfully introducing the project to
Brooklyn and its broad network of philanthropic support. According to Sojourn board member NY
State Assemblyman Roger Green (57th AD), “The staff at ICF vetted the
program as it rolled out in Brooklyn last summer. Then they pledged their support. And then they went the extra mile,
providing introductions to other supporters. Without the foresight and generosity of
ICF, Sojourn’s presence in New York would still be a dream. ICF made it real.” Mr. Green chairs the Assembly Committee
on Children & Families in Albany. Sojourn
provides an opportunity for high school students from New York City, San
Francisco, Oakland and Los Angeles to travel to the South and study the civil
rights era in intimate settings.
The
program’s itinerary includes Washington DC, Atlanta, Tuskegee, Montgomery,
Selma, Birmingham, Jackson, Little Rock and Memphis. By way of a “living history” syllabus —
books, documentaries, recordings and on-site visits with civil rights veterans —
lessons of tolerance, nonviolence, personal courage, compassion, forgiveness,
faith, hope, justice and civic responsibility are imparted during
expeditions. John Lewis (U.S.
Congressman), Myrlie Evers-Williams (Medgar Evers’ widow), members of the Little
Rock Nine, voting rights pioneer Robert Moses, Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth (leader
of the 1963 Birmingham movement), Chris McNair (father of one of four little
girls killed in a Birmingham church bombing) and Martin Luther King III, among
others, meet with students and teachers during their many stops through the
South. Since February 1999, Sojourn
has conducted eight civil rights expeditions. More than 665 participants have met with
civil rights veterans who have shared the program’s ethical lesson plans. By the end of this school year, Sojourn
will have served more than 1000 students.
To visit Sojourn’s Web site, click: www.sojournproject.org. To visit the Web site of the
Independence Community Foundation, click: www.icfny.org. “Until justice
rolls down like waters
and righteousness
like a mighty stream.”
|
