About The Study Tour
The Desmond Tutu Peace Lab
As an innovative think tank dedicated to undergraduate research, activism, dialogue and advocacy around peace and social justice issues, the Desmond Tutu Peace Lab (DPTL) is developing creative and strategic approaches to peace education while building capacity among students for activism and leadership. In fulfilling this mission, one of the DTPL’s core aims is to study "sites of conscience" including museums and memory projects, in order to learn about how divided societies have constructive dialogues about the past.
Why travel to Alabama?
The 2019 Study Tour brought together a team of 24 students, faculty, community organization leaders and Butler Tarkington youth to travel to Birmingham, Montgomery, and Selma, Alabama. The group experienced a range of sites connected to the civil rights struggle in the US south, including the Equal Justice Initiative’s new Legacy Museum and Peace and Reconciliation Memorial, and they participated in the Annual Reenactment of the Selma-to-Montgomery Voting Rights March.
Those involved with the university’s Peace Lab considered it essential to break the barrier between absorbing the history that has been documented in history books, and honoring alternate methods of data collection to understand the nation’s history. We found it incredibly valuable to hear the stories of those who were directly involved in the Civil Rights Movement and how the state has worked to reconcile with its violent history.
On this trip we set out with a short list of goals, which included:
- Develop understanding of the history of slavery, institutional racism, mass incarceration and civil rights activism in the USA.
- Experience civil rights memorialization in practice.
- Ask questions and seek answers to questions about the roots of present inequality and conflict.
- Reflect on the role of public acknowledgement of past violence in healing divided societies and in promoting constructive social change in contexts of ongoing violence and injustice.
- Build relationships that can contribute to making the Butler campus a creative space for transgenerational healing and progress.
- Formulate plans for developing community and campus presentations and programming related to the study tour’s themes.
Where did we go?
Kelly Ingram Park - Birmingham
Civil Rights Activist Committee (Foot soldiers) - Birmingham
and 4th Ave. District shops - Birmingham
Brown Chapel - Selma
Poor People Campaign - Selma
16th Baptist Church - Selma
Selma bridge crossing jubilee celebration
Freedom Riders Museum - Montgomery
Lynching Memorial - Montgomery
Legacy Museum Montgomery
Mock Trial - Montgomery
Kelly Ingram Park - Birmingham
Civil Rights Activist Committee (Foot soldiers) - Birmingham
and 4th Ave. District shops - Birmingham
Brown Chapel - Selma
Poor People Campaign - Selma
16th Baptist Church - Selma
Selma bridge crossing jubilee celebration
Freedom Riders Museum - Montgomery
Lynching Memorial - Montgomery
Legacy Museum Montgomery
Mock Trial - Montgomery
Website creator
Mikayla Whittemore
mlwhitte@butler.edu
Mikayla Whittemore
mlwhitte@butler.edu
Contributors
Mikayla Whittemore
Julio Trujillo
Cole Byram
Maria De Leon
Marla L. Berggoetz
Joe Killion
Reilly Simmons
Adrrell Mable
Roua Daas
Corinne Ebner
Karayjus Perry
Siobhan McEvoy-Levy
Photos by: Cambria Khayat and Mikayla Whittemore
For detailed information on the study tour itinerary and syllabus contact Dr McEvoy-Levy: smcevoy@butler.edu
The study tour organizers and participants wish to the thank the following for their support: Provost Kate Morris, Dean Jay Howard, Dr Rusty Jones, Carla North and Jesse Neader.
