Jennifer Michael (English) and Tiffany Momon (History)
Our joint trip to Mongtomery to the Equal Justice Initiative sites on October 28, 2023 (supported by a CfT mini-grant) was a powerful experience for all. Professor Michael’s class had just finished reading Marilyn Nelson’s crown of sonnets A Wreath for Emmett Till and had written a paper analyzing the use of form and the elegiac tradition in two of the sonnets. Visiting the museum and memorial was a way for them to understand more fully the depth of the legacy of slavery and Jim Crow as well as to consider a physical memorial alongside a literary one.
On the Monday following the trip, Professor Michael’s students wrote a reflection in class in which they were asked the following questions:
1. What single experience or exhibit stood out to you the most? Why?
2. Is there an aspect of your own life that this visit has touched?
3. How has this visit deepened your reading of A Wreath for Emmett Till?
The responses were thoughtful and illuminating. Here are just a few excerpts:
“I think the exhibit with the jars of soil from separate lynching sites really stood out to me because it provided a perspective on the countless jars of soil there were. The fact that when I went around to the other side there were more jars almost made my head spin.”
“One aspect in my life that has been touched is how little information they teach in school about the ongoing acts of racism. In high school and middle school we learned a lot about slavery but we never talked about the ongoing effect it has on current lives.”
“Especially after Nelson’s commentary on what the nature around the site of Till’s death must have ‘seen,’ the soil lasting past the tragedy and being an inconspicuous marker . . . showed how lynchings in the past still affect many people and places today.”
“I was curious if my hometown and other important places to my life were represented in the memorial, and I found every single one of them, including where Sewanee is. I also took time to reflect on how I have long perceived myself as ‘well educated’ on the topic of racial justice, as I found that I learned a lot more from this experience than I expected.”
Students have continued to reflect on the trip. As the final class assignment is to revise one of their earlier essays, several have chosen to revise the essay on Nelson’s Wreath (completed before the trip), bringing their insights from the visit to bear on their reconsideration of the text.