Sojourn to the Past is a non-profit organization that has, since 1999, taken thousands of students across the country out of the classroom for a life-changing educational experience via hands-on lessons on the Civil Right Movement. The inspirational program has empowered thousands of high school students nationwide to not repeat the mistakes of the past by bringing to life the injustices that are so often buried in our country’s history. The transformative process integrates education and experience in lessons of acceptance, social justice and standing up for the rights of all humans to an audience of impressionable youth.
In 1999 Sojourn to the Past was founded by Jeff Steinberg, Jeff Steinberg, a recipient of the Jefferson Award and US Senator Barbara Boxer’s Excellence in Education Award, to motivate high school students into a new generation of leaders. Through a highly emotional and eye opening ten-day journey spotlighting a period of segregation in the Deep South, students learn the history behind racism in the United States and reflect upon their ability to embrace diversity and become an active advocate for social justice. Sojourn students experience the Civil Rights Movement first-hand through such dramatic encounters as visiting Little Rock Central High School, the first school in the deep South to desegregate. Students have the opportunity to meet and listen to two of the first nine black students that desegregated Central High School, Minnijean Brown-Trickey and Elizabeth Eckford, as well as other prominent figures from the Movement such as Congressman John Lewis.
Through the lives of civil rights foot soldiers participants learn to view society differently. Sojourners are challenged to reach within themselves to define the values that drive them and to defend the principles of equality and justice – a deep and personal inquiry that rarely happens in a classroom.
Values like speaking out against injustice, courage, compassion, and civic responsibility are all addressed and students are provided the tools to practice what they learn back home in their communities. Students form lifelong bonds with peers and staff during their 10-day journey to sacred civil rights sites in Atlanta, Birmingham, Hattiesberg, Jackson, Little Rock, Memphis, Meridian, Montgomery, and Selma.
The next Sojourn trips are taking place February, March and April, 2010. Media representatives are invited to attend the trip or to interview the team pre- and post- journey for articles showcasing the transformative process these students will experience through their educational process.
