Cairon Harrison ‘25 and Hawk Okpokwasili ‘25, share an impactful day visiting Morehouse College and the National Center for Civil and Human Rights.
We started our day off with a tour of Morehouse, an all-boys HBCU that Martin Luther King Jr attended. We were toured by a current student Marchellous who also offered his own insight on what it means to be a Morehouse student as well as his own take on HBCU’s in general. This tour was very impactful because it enabled us to see education through a less white-dominated lens which we spoke about during our debrief after the tour. We then went to Paschal’s and were able to try some of the best fried chicken in the south. The food was amazing and we had the opportunity to talk more with both Marchellous and Nassir, a Deerfield alum and learn meaningful information about them and their experiences. They were able to shed light on issues that are often kept in the dark.
After Paschal’s we returned to the National Center for Civil and Human Rights. We visited all three floors which all had their own focus on civil and human rights. The first floor focused on MLK and specifically the march on Washington through a myriad of primary sources such as written documents, photographs, and other objects. The second floor honed in on the civil rights movement in America as a whole. There were several opportunities to watch informational videos about the movement as well as the chance to experience the immersion of the lunch line protests. The third floor focuses on civil and human rights on a global scale. The entire museum was extremely impactful as it offered multiple perspectives on different movements on a National and international level. We ended in Montgomery where we had dinner and prepared for the next day’s activities.
-Cairon Harrison ‘25
Today we started off with a breakfast buffet at about 8:30am in the hotel. Then, while we waited for our travel bus, we played a game called jaguar, monkey, mosquito which was basically rock paper scissors but with animals instead of rock, paper, and scissors. Once our bus arrived we left our hotel in Atlanta for the last time and drove about five minutes to Morehouse College. A wonderful student ambassador named Marchellous gave us a fantastic tour of the school, and loads of information on the school’s alumni, history, and some of the school’s plans for the future.
After our tour at Morehouse we walked through Clark Atlanta University and Spelman College, on our 15 minute walk to Paschal’s restaurant. Most of the students had the restaurant’s classic 1947 Paschal’s fried Chicken. After a very filling lunch, we went to the National Center for National Human Rights, and explored several different exhibits and pieces of art that displayed the several perspectives of those involved in the movement.
After the Museum we went on a two hour drive to Montgomery, Alabama. Before arriving at the hotel we had a nice dinner at the Dreamland, inspired by a man named “Big Daddy”. After the dinner we arrived at our new hotel, and checked in for the night. It was a very eventful day, and we saw a lot, learned a lot, and gained a lot. We learned a lot about the history of the civil rights movement and more importantly the people behind it. Not only people like Martin Luther King, John Lewis, Rosa Parks, etc. but we also got the chance to look at the stories of the smaller names, those who didn’t get all the glory and shine. The Center for National Human rights specifically displayed many stories and gave several perspectives.
-Hawk Okpokwasili ‘25
