By Martha Landry By the time Hurricane Katrina struck the City of New Orleans, Traci Birch had already fled. After living in the city for 15 years she knew better than to mess around with the storms of Louisiana. Birch is a coastal planner for New Orleans. Originally from Ohio, Birch recovered from the disaster that [...]

By Ryan Underdahl From Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks to the Little Rock Nine and The Freedom Riders, the Civil Rights Movement was flush with recognizable names and people who helped to change the atmosphere in a country where white supremacy reigned supreme. For Hank Klibanoff, co-author of The Race Beat: The Press, [...]

By Emily Gresbrink Lew Mallow, a local resident, raised his hand and shared a story about Mississippi’s ratification of the 13th amendment. “It was 1995,” he said. The audience reacted with either small startled or light laugher. “No! It was 1995 when it happened,” he said. “I have been to the South and it’s not [...]

By InsideEC staff For the third time, UW-Eau Claire  journalism students are accompanying the Civil Rights Pilgrimage. The Pilgrimage, celebrating its 10th trip south, is taking 90 total students through Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Tennessee to visit  historical sites of the Civil Rights Movement. The nine journalism students will write a blog entry for [...]

The crowd gathers at the iron gate. As it swings open they scurry in passing posters on the wall of famous musicians who once filled the hall with music. Soon the room is full. The band enters. As the crowd cheers, the men begin to play the sounds of New Orleans. The crowd is instantly [...]

By James Kust Click to listen to this story: [Audio clip: view full post to listen] Since the civil rights movement began in the late 1950s, dozens of films have been made about the events that transpired across the United States. But the accuracy of many of those films are in question. With recent blockbusters [...]

By Sten Ivan As an international student unfamiliar with the Civil Rights Movement in the United States, it was a great opportunity for me to participate in the Civil Rights Pilgrimage with the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. The trip took me to the Deep South where I visited historic sites important to the movement. These photos [...]

By Emily Gresbrink When University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire journalism students Amanda Tyler and Breann Schossow sat in pews interviewing a member of the Tabernacle Baptist Church in Selma, Ala., a man came up behind them and sat down. He slowly began to talk about his experiences during the Civil Rights era and told them how in [...]

Standing on a patch of concrete in the George Washington Carver housing projects in Selma, Ala., civil rights foot soldier Joanne Bland held a pebble in her palm. The pebble, a crumbling piece of the historic ground she stood on, signified the meeting place of nearly 600 men, women, and children before they began their [...]

In 1981, a young African American man was abducted by two members of the United Klans of America (UKA) and murdered for no reason other than the color of his skin. The death of 19-year-old Michael Donald led to a successful lawsuit against the UKA and the funding for a memorial center in the name of [...]