Look up the African-American Civil Rights Movement on Wikipedia and it will describe a movement that took place in the U.S. from 1954-1968. According to Julie Uwineza, junior, the movement is not so easily put on a timeline.

“Even if [people] say the civil rights started this year and ended that year, we don’t think that’s how it is,” Uwineza said. “It started way before, and it hasn’t stopped; it’s still going on.”

In order to learn more about this continuous movement, Uwineza, Maddy Buckner-McCurdy, Xavier Johnson and William Wicklander, juniors, spent their spring break on a historical tour across the country, accompanied by Mr. Michael Babine-Dinnen, Social Studies. The West Metro Education Program (WMEP) partners with Robbinsdale Area schools to offer the Civil Rights Research Tour, which aims to educate African-Americans about their history through experience. This program is offered to students who attend Brooklyn Center, Columbia Heights, Eden Prairie, Hopkins, Minneapolis, Richfield, Robbinsdale, St. Anthony/New Brighton, St. Louis Park, or Wayzata public schools.

Babine-Dinnen explained that the tour was not solely historical, but can be applied to the west metro community.

“For me, it was a strong belief in racial consciousness, and bringing that to the west metro. I want to bring that to our school and increase black pride,” Babine-Dinnen said. “I wanted [students] to know what their families before them experienced and help create a stronger sense of identity so they could bring that here and be empowered to affect change.”

Students were recommended to attend the tour by teachers, or sought out applications on their own. On the tour, students visited sites such as the National Voters Rights Museum in Ala., the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in Ala., the King Center in Ga., and a number of historically black colleges (Tuskegee University in Ala., Spelman College and Morehouse College in Ga.). An experience that stood out to Buckner-McCurdy was an up-close look into life on a slave ship.

“The theme that we learned on this trip was that as the youth, we are the people to continue our history. That became clear through the slave experience, where we got to see what it was like to be on a slave ship,” Buckner-McCurdy said. “We need to be able to take that and educate others about what it was like, because it’s one thing to just read about it in your textbook, to experience it is completely different.”

Along with historical knowledge, Johnson believes he left the trip with a stronger sense of identity.

“After this trip, you no longer feel like you have to hide the real you for anybody. Once you know where you come from, you just feel proud and accomplished. The sky isn’t the limit for anyone,” Johnson said.