Photo: Global Leadership Academy Charter Schools
Global Leadership Academy Charter Schools scholars and staff recently returned from a six-day educational experience through the American Civil Rights Movement across three Southern states. This learning experience followed their in-depth study of the Global Studies Curriculum, adding a hands-on experience to what they learned in the classroom.
Departing from their respective schools in the predawn darkness, the sixth-grade classes from Global Leadership Academy Charter School West (GLA-W) and Global Leadership Academy Charter School Southwest (GLA-SW) set out for the schools’ annual Human and Civil Rights Excursion.
The scholars visited significant historical sites, including the Clayborne Temple in Memphis, where the sanitation workers began preparations for their strike.
The itinerary included stops in Memphis at the Lorraine Motel, where Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, and the Stax Record Company. In Birmingham, Alabama, they met a woman arrested in the Children’s March in 1964, visited Kelly Ingram Park, and headed to the 16th Street Baptist Church. In Montgomery, Alabama, they met with an 83-year-old woman who was a Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) leader and visited the Equal Justice Initiative Legacy Museum, a human and civil rights museum founded by Bryan Stevenson.
Photo: Global Leadership Academy Charter Schools
In Selma, the scholars crossed the historic Edmund Pettus Bridge, where they knelt as John Lewis and marchers had done before the police attacked them. The excursion included five HBCU campuses: Alabama State University, Tuskegee University, Spelman College, Morehouse College, and Clark Atlanta University. The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Center in Atlanta was also part of the expedition.
According to Dr. Naomi Johnson Booker, founder of GLA Schools, the purpose of the excursions is twofold.
“First, we want our scholars to see and understand the joy and resilience of being an African American by learning about our struggles and achievements,” Booker said. “Second, we aim to inspire our scholars, who range in age from 11 to 13, to recognize their agency and the impact they can have as future leaders of the world. By connecting with history personally and directly, the scholars gain a deeper appreciation for the sacrifices made. We encourage them to consider how they can make a positive impact on the world.”
In 7th grade, scholars are expected to secure a passport for international travel. GLA scholars travel to Canada in seventh grade and go on an overseas expedition for their eighth-grade excursion. Expeditions begin in Philadelphia during kindergarten, and as they progress through the grades, they travel further into Pennsylvania, the United Nations in New York, and Washington, D.C. By the time GLA scholars are ready to transition to high school, they are passport-holding world travelers, having logged more miles than most college graduates.
Photo: Global Leadership Academy Charter Schools
Booker says that GLA’s excursions aim to prepare future world leaders and close the achievement gap through exposure.
“For scholars to understand the world, they must experience it firsthand,” she said. “GLA provides them with real-world experiences through excursions that bring classroom learning to life.”
GLA 7th grade scholars will travel to Canada in May to study Harriet Tubman’s history, while 8th grade scholars will embark on an overseas expedition to the Bahamas to continue their studies of the Transatlantic Slave Trade.
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