Civil Rights Tour Brings Students Face to Face with History

Abak Anei plans to become a museum educator and community coordinator, with graduate school applications pending at Southern University at New Orleans, the University of Washington and several online programs.

The 26-year-old from Spokane, who earned a bachelor’s degree in interdisciplinary studies in June, recently strengthened her credentials through a seven-day experiential learning trip – of an upper-division course at Eastern Washington University: AAST 496, 1,000 Mile Civil Rights Tour.

“I think this is a really important trip for everybody to go on,” Anei said. “As someone that already loves African American history, this solidified me for what I want to do [for a living] even more.”

The March tour explored landmarks, parks and museums commemorating the Civil Rights Movement. The sites reflected the history of the ideology, leadership, social and political impacts, legislative victories and psychological dimensions of the movement, while also highlighting its influence on individual African Americans, their communities and the nation.

Angela Schwendiman, EWU’s Africana studies program director, and Professor Scott Finnie accompanied students on the tour.

With 22 stops across Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee, the tour allowed students to engage with history and connect with people who lived through it.

Among the many notable stops, students visited Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, where Martin Luther King Jr. gave his first sermon, and Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church in Montgomery, where he became a pastor in 1954 after earning his doctorate at Boston University.

Statues of family of enslaved people doing the back-breaking work of harvesting cotton. — *These bronze statues were among the many exhibits at Freedom Memorial Sculpture Park.*

Students toured the parsonage where King lived with his family and met the museum curator, a woman who grew up with King as her pastor and mentor. She showed them the porch where the home was bombed and the kitchen table where King prayed for guidance on how to proceed with civil rights action amid the risks to human lives.

She also recalled showing King her Easter dress as a child and spoke of her uncle’s role in the historic meeting at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church that launched the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

“Going on this trip really smacked history right in my face – and it was a good thing,” Anei said. “It made me realize that the past is there; and it’s okay to learn about the past. It’s okay to be engaged, it’s okay to know what happened – and it’s also okay to keep working to make sure it never happens again.”

Students visited landmark sites representing a time when slavery and segregation were an acceptable evil in America. The Mississippi Civil Rights Museum, for example, paid tribute to the many leaders who paved the way for civil rights progress. Anei says the visit there further empowered her path to become a museum educator.

Anei recalled the visit to the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama as difficult yet deeply moving.

Photo of a plaque honoring the four girls who were killed in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing. — *A plaque inside the lower level museum at the 16th Street Baptist Church honors the four girls killed that day.*

“Being at the church where the four little girls were bombed… I think it’s one thing to learn about it – it’s sad – but being in that same place, being able to sit in the same chairs, everything like that, it was so emotional,” she said. “I was crying, I was tearing up, it was just… you could feel the heaviness of that place.”

The restored church’s upper level continues to function as a house of worship. The lower level houses the museum, which honors the young lives lost while illustrating the toll the violence took on their families and community.

“It’s so amazing how they were able to memorialize it and make sure nobody forgets something horrible happened there, but they are also able to keep educating people. I loved, loved, loved everything about the trip,” Anei said. “But that just continues to come back. It hits me the most.”

*Students toured the National Voting Rights Museum and Institute.*

A PowerPoint presentation made by Finnie provides historical context, while illustrating some of the many stops the group made. Students kept journals and shared their personal reflections during EWU’s 2025 Diversity & Inclusion Week event: “Own Your Own Power: Story Circles and Civil Rights Tour Panel.”

For Anei, the experience was transformative.

“This trip really just enlightened me and also continued to light my fire in African American history – and also wanting to be someone who works for the community and continues to gain progress and doesn’t just let things become steady.”