Amizade Course through West Virginia University Demonstrates Importance of Intercultural Service and Learning in the US; Leads to Development of Film to be Screened at the Democratic National Convention
Prior to making video oral histories in 2008, Amizade sponsored a Spring Break trip of 6 students to tour the civil rights heritage trail through Alabama and Georgia in 2007. The trip and academic credits were organized through Amizade's partnership with West Virginia University. Under the guidance of Louretta Wimberly, Alabama Historical Commission Black Heritage Council Emeritus, students went on cultural tours in Montgomery, Selma, Birmingham, Tuskegee, and Atlanta. This 2007 trip was the seed of a larger idea: to interview and video former civil rights activists as a service-learning project for Alabama's archives.
Professor Jen Saffron of the Film Studies Program of the University of Pittsburgh, whose area is social and political documentary, made additional contact with Ms. Wimberly, who is also board member of the National Voting Rights Museum and Institute, to set up another visit to Alabama. Seven students enrolled in a 16-day summer intensive with Professor Saffron, where they traveled to Alabama to conduct a survey of oral histories as their Intro to Social Documentary Course organized through Amizade's partnership with West Virginia University. Monica Cwynar, licensed social worker, assisted the group as the course facilitator.
Dr. Georgette Norman of the Rosa Parks Museum and Library set up video interviews that would subsequently expand their archives and continue their project to interview Montgomery citizens/activists who were alive during the bus boycott. Louretta Wimberly set up interviews in Selma, particularly with some of the older activists and church leaders. And the students participated in two days of volunteering with Angela Brown and her staff at the National Voting Rights Museum and Institute, assisting with archival and physical needs. In addition, students toured Atlanta, Birmingham, and Tuskegee and read critical essays regarding the history of the civil rights movement in the U.S.
Initially, students edited a 5 minute clip that has won national attention in the Cinemocracy Rocks competition, to be screened at the Democratic National Convention on August 25, 2008. Longer versions of interviews are being edited over the fall of 2008. Interview highlights include: Amelia Boynton, important voting rights activist; members of the First Baptist Church of Selma; close associates of Dr. Martin Luther King; and some of the original Freedom Riders. These DVDs will be housed in the archives of the aforementioned institutions, and will help raise awareness about Alabama's history through Ms. Wimberly's work with the Alabama Historical Commission. Overall, the resulting 30+ powerful interviews are being culled into a series of interviews on DVDs that will showcase the compelling testimony of individuals whose contributions to the fight for equality helped secure rights for us all.