9 Youngstown students to see civil-rights sites

By Harold Gwin

The students will get to meet people who were directly involved in the movement.

YOUNGSTOWN — Nine city high school students embarked on a “Sojourn to the Past” on Thursday, a trip that will take them on a tour of historic locations in the South that figured prominently in this nation’s civil rights movement.

The event is much more than a tour. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime educational journey, according to Youngstown students who took the Sojourn a year ago.

Making this year’s journey, which began Thursday, are Kayla Chaney, Ebony Ladson and Victoria Brown from East High School; William Huffman and Shaquala Thomas from Youngstown Early College; and Kaylynne Mahone, Makayla Eggleston, Monique Jordan and Whitney Muldrow from Chaney High School.

The trip is organized by former Youngstown teacher Penny Wells, who is accompanying the students.

The group will join with 95 other high school students from California. “Sojourn to the Past” is a West Coast venture created by Jeff Steinberg, a former teacher, about a decade ago. Youngstown is the first school from this region to participate.

Participants will have the opportunity to see where civil rights history was made when they visit Atlanta, Selma, Birmingham, Little Rock and Memphis.

Wells said this year’s trip has added significance as it falls so closely to last week’s 40th anniversary of the slaying of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

One of the early stops on the trip will be the Martin Luther King Jr. Center in Atlanta, she said.

The students won’t be passive tourists.

They were required to read specific books about the period and will meet with people whose names became synonymous with the civil rights movement in the South. They were required to do homework on the subject matter and will have to produce journals and other work during the trip. Each day of the journey includes a two-to-three-hour class session.

The students also had to help raise money for the trip, which costs $2,500 per student.

The six who went on the Sojourn last year came home committed to making a difference and organized a successful voter registration drive earlier this year.

gwin@vindy.com