Pre-Atlanta Reflection

In Atlanta, I hope to gain a deeper understanding of the history of the Civil Rights movement and how the effects of that era influence race relations in the South today. I have never been to the South outside of the New Orleans Bonner trip last year, and NOLA is distinct from the other Southern states. I would like to understand the legacy of Jim Crow in Atlanta, a city of the Old South that has become one of the largest metropolitan areas in the US today. I will reflect on and compare my experience in Atlanta versus my time in New Orleans last year.

I would also like to gain a deeper understanding of why the Civil Rights movement of the late 1950s and 1960s succeed in producing legislation that banned, on paper, the inequalities that had until then been legal fact in this country. It is fascinating to me how white Americans reacted in the 1960s, versus in the 1920s or earlier when black Americans had agitated for equal rights. Why did what we know as "The" Civil Rights movement succeed where previous civil rights movements (notably in the 1920s) failed? It would interesting to compare the differences in the methods used by activists, as well as the varied reactions from white Americans over time. In addition, the comparison could extend to the current Black Lives Matter movement.