Saturday, May 24, 2008

Nashville, TN



The sun was shining from morning til evening on our last day of the tour in Nashville, TN. We began at Fisk University (founded in 1866) and visited the Fisk Chapel where some of the student demonstrations in the 1960s began. We then went to the site of Rev. Kelly Miller's First Baptist Church, which was demolished to make way for a freeway. Despite the long uphill slope, the whole group make it into downtown where we saw the Walgreen's drugstore where some of the sit-ins took place and the steps of the Davidson County Courthouse where Diane Nash asked Mayor Ben West a question that marked the beginning of the end of the apartheid system in Nashville. On this day with some free time, some of us enjoyed the water features, which cooled us off. Lunch was on our own and then we met Mr. John Siegenthaler at the Civil Rights Room of the Nashville Public Library. He told of his life and his experiences with the Freedom Riders. The evening ended with a quick stop at Vanderbilt University and dinner at the Calypso restaurant. I am grateful to have had such a great group of students and I thank you for making the organizing of this trip worthwhile. I look forward to your journals and any additions to the blog.

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