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We can access quality information on demand. There is no way to listen to every episode, but know that these are some of the people who have influenced the BWM’s thinking and inspired him to create and produce this podcast
Just putting this site together is part of the preparation. Seems like I’ve been training for this journey for a long time. It started in the dark days of introspection; after a misfire in ministry. The reading took me into the literature of the history of my tribe – white evangelicalism.
I didn’t like what I found.
It seemed like everywhere I turned, I encountered the issue of race. It called for my response. But in my stilted world, our knee-jerk reaction is to deny that race matters.
The Lorraine Motel – where Dr. Martin Luther King was shot on April 4, 1968. The following month, while I was on a choir tour, we drove by this very spot… returning there 51 years later brought tears.
Yesterday morning 22 people from different walks of life, different races, and different churches embarked to join the Fellowship Center for Racial Reconciliation in its annual Southern Civil Rights Tour. The 8 day journey will take us to six states and seven cities: New Orleans, LA; Jackson, MS; Little Rock, AR; Memphis, TN; Selma & Montgomery, AL; and Atlanta, GA. The biblical disciplines that we will cover are Lament, Repentance, Confession, Love, Justice, Mercy, and Reconciliation.
Some may ask why? John, why take a journey into the past? Shouldn’t we just leave those things in the past? My response, our response, is no because our past informs our present and can shape our future. Bryan Stevenson, a civil rights attorney and a committed Christian, challenges us “to get proximate to suffering and to understand the nuanced experiences of those who suffer from and experience inequality. Stevenson believes that “if you are willing to get closer to people who are suffering, you will find the power to change the world.” I would add that in order for us to truly be racially reconciled we must also get “proximate” with our country’s racial history.
So…we take this 8-day journey to get proximate with what James Baldwin called the “bloody catalog of oppression.” I invite you to journey with us by praying for our team.
– From John Williams’ Facebook Post June 24, 2019
Civil Rights Tour Itinerary 2019
New Orleans, LA
3:15 PM- Fly on Delta Airlines (Flt 835) Land at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International
4:00 PM- Check-in at Hotel: Hilton Garden Inn New Orleans, 1001 S. Peters St, NO, LA 70130 ~ Free-time ~
7:00 PM- Dinner at Coop’s Place
Feel free to go in groups and explore the city. You may refer to the activities list we sent out.
New Orleans, LA (Day 1)
8:00- Meet at the lobby
***Everyone needs to be on the bus by 8:15***
8:15- Depart for Whitney Plantation
9:20 Arrive
9:30 Guided tour of Whitney Plantation
12:45 PM – Leave Whitney Plantation
1:30 PM- Lunch at Connie’s Grill (60 Minutes)
2:45 PM- Leave for hotel
4:15 Lecture + Q&A w/ Dr. Ashley Howard in Conference Room (90 minutes)
6:30 PM- Dinner – We are splitting up for dinner tonight. If you identify as biracial you can choose which group to go with.
White participants- Royal House POC participants- Willie May’s Scotch House
7:00 PM- Separate Debriefs
New Orleans, LA/ Jackson, MS (Day 2)
8:30 Meet at the Lobby
***Everyone needs to be on the bus by 8:15*** 9:00 Lower 9th Ward Bus Tour w/ Mr. Koné 12:45 Lunch at Dooky Chase Restaurant
Dooky Chase Restaurant used to be referred to as “the restaurant” by local civil rights leaders. The historic restaurant was featured in many editions of the Green Book: The Negro Motorist Guide. And most importantly, their fried chicken is legendary!
3:00 Drive to Jackson, MS (2 hrs)
5:30 Dinner & Debrief at Ms. Tate’s Home
7:00 Arrive at Hotel Hilton Jackson 1001 E County Line Rd. Jackson, MS
Airport
(30 min – to pick up luggage)
Jackson, MS
8:15AM Meet in the Lobby
***Everyone needs to be on the bus by 8:30*** 8:30 AM- Depart to NAACP Headquarters (20 min) 9:00 AM Arrive at NAACP Headquarters 9:15 Civil Rights Movement Veterans Panel Discussion w/ Q&A 11:00 Meet in the Lobby
We will eat lunch on the bus!
***Everyone needs to be on the bus by 11:15***
1:45 Arrive at Emmett Till Interpretive Center, 120 N Court St, Sumner, MS 38957 (2.5 hr) 2:00 Emmett Till Walking Tour
4:15 Lecture + Q&A w/ Dr. Antoinette Harrell
6:00 Drive to Hotel in Clarksdale ** (20 min)
7:00 Dinner – Ground Zero Blues Club – Clarkston
Revised schedule–
Wednesday, June 26, 2019
Jackson, MS
***Everyone needs to be on the bus by 9:15***
9:15 AM- Depart to NAACP Headquarters (20 min)
9:45 AM Arrive at NAACP Headquarters
10:00 Civil Rights Movement Veterans Panel Discussion w/ Q&A
11:05 Meet in the Lobby
We will eat lunch on the bus!
***Everyone needs to be on the bus by 11:15***
1:45 Arrive at Tallahatchie County Courthouse, Sumner, Ms, 408 East Court Street (2.5 hrs)
2:00 Case Study w/ Dr. Antoinette Harrell
3:30 Drive to Emmett Till Museum 235 Thomas St, Glendora, MS 38928 (25 min)
6:00 Drive to Hotel in Clarksdale ** (20 min)
7:00 Ground Zero Blues Club – Clarkston
5:30 Meet at the lobby
***Everyone needs to be on the bus by 5:45***
6:00 AM – Depart to Mosaic Templars Visitor Center (2.5 hrs.)
10:00 AM – Private Screening of “ Dream Land: Little Rock’s West 9th Street” w/ director Tanisha Joe-Conway
12:00 Lunch at — Soul Fish Café
1:00 PM – Central High Guided Tour
The Little Rock Nine were a group of nine black students who enrolled at formerly all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, in September 1957. Their attendance at the school was a test of Brown v. Board of Education, the landmark 1954 Supreme Court ruling that declared segregation in public schools unconstitutional. On September 4, 1957, the first day of classes at Central High, Governor Orval Faubus called in the Arkansas National Guard to block the black students’ entry into the high school. Later that month, President Dwight D. Eisenhower sent in federal troops to escort the Little Rock Nine into the school.
3:45 Check in at Hotel: Fairfield Inn and Suites 4760 Showcase Blvd, Memphis, TN 38118
5:30 Dinner at River Market 7:00 Group Debrief
5:45 AM – Depart from Little Rock (2.5 hrs)
8:30 AM – Arrive at National Civil Rights Museum
There are many eateries around the museum. If you wish, you may get a quick bite to eat before the tour.
9:00 AM – Tour the National Civil Rights Museum
Dr. King was staying at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis. The point of his visit was to kick off a sanitation workers strike against unfair low wages. Rev. Billy Kyles had arrived to bring Dr. King and Ralph Abernathy to his new home for dinner. The three ministers enjoyed several hours of friendship and conversation before leaving the room to go to the car. They were running late. It was on the way to the car, while waving to a friend, that Dr. King was shot just outside of room 306.
1:00 PM – Meet in front of the Lorraine Motel sign 1:30 Lunch at Four Way Restaurant
Four Way Restaurant is a soul food staple in Memphis. The restaurant was featured in many editions of the Green Book. The restaurant was also frequented by many civil rights leaders, including, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
3:00 PM- Back on the Bus 3:15 PM – Stax Museum
Stax Records is an American record label, originally based in Memphis, Tennessee. It was influential in the creation of Southern soul and Memphis soul music. Stax also released gospel, funk, and blues recordings. The label represented artists like: Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes and Sam & Dave.
5:00 Leave for the hotel
6:00 PM – Group Debrief at Hotel: Fairfield Inn and Suites 4760 Showcase Blvd, Memphis, TN 38118
7:30- Dinner at Blues City Cafe — This is an optional event.
9:30 PM – Leave for Hotel
***Everyone needs to be on the bus at 5:45***
6:00 AM – Depart to Selma (5 hrs) 11:30 PM – Visit Edmund Pettus Bridge
On “Bloody Sunday,” March 7, 1965, some 600 civil rights marchers headed east out of Selma on U.S. Route 80. They got only as far as the Edmund Pettus Bridge six blocks away, where state and local lawmen attacked them with billy clubs and tear gas and drove them back into Selma. Two days later on March 9, Martin Luther King, Jr.,led a symbolic march to the bridge.
12:45 PM- Drive to Montgomery (1 hr)
1:50 PM – Arrive at the Equal Justice Institute Museum
2:15 PM Tour the Equal Justice Institute Museum
3:50 PM Leave for The Peace and Justice Memorial
5:00 PM – Leave for hotel: Fairfield Inn and Suites 7560 Mobile Highway, Montgomery, AL 36105
6:00- Dinner at Cork & Cleaver
8:00 Debrief Together
8:30 AM – Depart to Birmingham (1.5 hours)
10:00 AM – Breakfast with Sarah Collins-Rudolph w/ Q&A
On Sunday, September 15th 1963, the 16th Street Baptist Church was bombed in an terror attack by white supremacists:
12:30 PM – Drive to Atlanta airport
Thomas Edwin Blanton Jr., Herman Frank Cash, Robert Edward Chambliss, and Bobby Frank Cherry. Four girls, 11 year old Denise McNair, 14 year old Carole Robertson, Addie Mae Collins and Cynthia Wesley all died. Sarah, Addie Mae sister survived the bombing.
