Family Focus: Local Teens Take Tour Of Civil Rights Landmarks

This week, 13 local teenagers returned from a tour of civil rights landmarks in the South.

The tour is part of a program called "Creating A Usable Past" and includes stops at the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis and Kelly Ingram Park in Birmingham, Ala., where hundreds of black children marched in 1963 to end segregation and were arrested.

Geordea Herron, 17, said the trip inspired her.

“[I want to] get children involved and show them all that people actually went through,” Herron said.

Herron and the other 12 teenagers from the Stratford Richardson YMCA blogged about their experiences on the trip. To read their posts, click here.

Herron said the trip brought history to life for her.

“I see bravery and perseverance,” she said.

Jessica Williams, a trip organizer, said the students can't wait to share their experience.

“They are talking about developing a play about what they learned and taking it around to other schools,” Williams said.

Herron said she will also try to express how visiting the past helped her appreciate the present.

“It it felt like, ‘Wow, I'm really here and I've been taking things for granted,’” she said. “I need to get on the ball with schoolwork and be thankful for everything that I have.”