Selma, Montgomery, and Birmingham Alabama
In March 2023, alumni, faculty, and staff traveled to Alabama for the School's first-ever Alumni Trip. The trip was an opportunity for all attendees to experience continued learning and growth alongside members of the St. Andrew's community around the history and legacy of the civil rights movement.
Scroll down to see the places we visited.
16th Street Baptist Church
The 16th Street Baptist Church is still an active church in the Birmingham community today, in spite of its tragic past. During the Civil Rights Movement, the church served as a meeting place for the organization of marches and other civil rights activities. In 1963, the church was bombed, resulting in the deaths of four young Black girls: Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley, Denise McNair and Carole Robertson. This event galvanized the federal government to take action on civil rights legislation.
Edmund Pettus Bridge
The Edmund Pettus Bridge, now a National Historic Landmark, was the site of the brutal Bloody Sunday beatings of civil rights marchers during the first march for voting rights. The attacks prompted public support for the civil rights activists in Selma and for the voting rights campaign. After Bloody Sunday, protestors were granted the right to continue marching, and two more marches for voting rights followed.
The Legacy Museum & The National Memorial for Peace and Justice
Located on the site where enslaved people were once warehoused and sold, the Legacy Museum offers the opportunity to reflect on the history of racial injustice in our nation and its effects on our society today.
The National Memorial for Peace and Justice is located a few blocks away, a space with around 800 suspended steel columns shaped like a coffin; each of them has the name of a county of the United States where lynchings took place and the names of the victims engraved. The memorial also has sculptures, manuscripts, words from Martin Luther King and a space for reflection.
The Alumni Office would like to extend some special thanks to:
* Jake Williams from Montgomery Tours, who guided attendees along the exact route of the 1965 Selma to Montgomery Voting Rights March, imbuing the tour with stories from his lived experience during the civil rights movement.
* Steven L. Reed, the Mayor of Montgomery, Alabama, who inspired attendees as he outlined the city's efforts to advance the goals of the civil rights movement.
* The Burns Brothers, who facilitated reflections and helped attendees absorb their experience and plan their own next steps
* Brad Bennett '86, who welcomed attendees to Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church, where Martin Luther King Jr. was a pastor and where Bennett is a deacon today.
And a huge thank you to all alumni who joined us for our first-ever alumni trip! Be sure to keep in touch with us to learn about future events for alumni - email alumni@saes.org to be added to our email list!