Operation Understanding DC Class 20 - Selma, Alabama

Class 20 of Operation Understanding DC in Selma, Alabama.

The OUDC students met with Hannah Berger and another ember of Selma's Temple Mishkan Israel, experienced a powerful historical experiential workshop with Ms. Afriye We-Kandodis, and were guided through the city's history by Bloody Sunday veteran and heroic local activist Ms. Joanne Bland. She co-founded the National Voting Rights Museum and Institute in the city. The day ended with a march over the Edmund Pettus Bridge, site of the original marches in 1965, which helped spark the nation's conscience.

Operation Understanding DC Class 20 - Montgomery, Alabama

Class 20 of Operation Understanding DC in Montgomery, Alabama.

The students met with Bryan Stevenson of the Equal Justice Initiative, with Georgette Norman of the Rosa Parks Museum, with Wanda Battle of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church (Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s pulpit), Joe Levin of the Southern Poverty Law Center, and Lecia Brooks of the Civil Rights Memorial Center. They also met and studied at the Alabama State Capitol, scene of Jefferson Davis' inauguration as president of the Confederacy, Governor George Wallace's stand against rights for African-Americans, and where Dr. King spoke to the marchers from Selma.

Operation Understanding DC Class 20 - Birmingham Alabama

On the road with Operation Understanding DC Class 20, in Birmingham, Alabama.

The students learned visited and learned at the 16th Street Baptist Church (where four young girls died in a KKK bombing in the civil rights struggle) with Reverend Arthur Price, the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, met with Rabbi Jonathan Miller of Temple Emanu-El, heard from US Attorney Doug Jones, Congresswoman Terri Sewell, and Dr. Shelley Stewart of the Mattie Stewart Foundation.

Homeless man, Birmingham, Alabama

Kelly Ingram Park, Birmingham, Alabama.

On the road with Operation Understanding DC.