By Chi Ab Vang Each semester, a new group of students and professors from the University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire travel down south for a civil rights pilgrimage. And, with each semester that passes a new adventure begins for every individual who joins the trip. The listener Demetrius Evans watched as students stored their [...]

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 Michelle Adamczyk Sweat, spit and blood covered  the street while an angry mob circled roaring crude insults and threats. Roughly 1,200 troops lined the streets. Death threats are were hurled amid all the shouting and chaos. Disregarding all the madness, nine black students walked up the double staircase to enter the school, taking the [...]

By Olivia Jeske “We shall overcome.” “Keep your eyes on the prize.” “Buses are a-coming, oh yeah.” During the peak of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s, these words could be heard from city to city, as individuals banded together against racial inequity. What made these words so unique, however, was that these phrases [...]

By Breann Schossow [Audio clip: view full post to listen] According to a 2011 study looking at state curricula, Wisconsin, along with 34 other states, earned an F in its teachings of the Civil Rights Movement. The study, Teaching the Movement: The State of Civil Rights Education 2011, compared state requirements to what civil rights [...]

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 Rachel Perry The Civil Rights Movement started almost 60 years ago, sparking major change in the nation. The stories that arose from the movement are inspiring and educational.  Spirit Trickey is the daughter of one of the Little Rock Nine students, Minnijean Brown Trickey, who integrated Central High School in Little Rock, Ark., in [...]

On April 4, 1968, a piercing gunshot rang out  in Memphis. Bystanders rushed to the Lorraine Motel to find the infamous civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. shot and dying on the second story balcony. King had been in Memphis  to lead a nonviolent march to support striking sanitation workers. Rev. Samuel “Billy” Kyles was on the balcony [...]

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 [...]

  “A long time ago, I made a decision that I was not going to take it anymore. I had to do something, I just had to do something.” -Charles Person, Freedom Rider As the summer  of 1961 approached, a student group, the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) developed a plan that would test and [...]