Lucy Mensah Archives

Marian Wright Edelman, the president and founder of the Children's Defense Fund, once said, "Education is for improving the lives of others and for leaving your community and world better than you found it." I feel that education is way more than making sure you go to class or studying for the big biology exam. Whatever you learn must be used to better the lives of the people around you. After this trip, I will definitely use the things I have learned to fight for civil rights today.

We arrived in Nashville, Tenn., on Saturday and I've been having a great time ever since!!!

The weather is just gorgeous and the people are so friendly down here. One of the highlights of the trip so far would be meeting MinnieJean Brown-Trickey, one of the members of the Little Rock Nine. The Little Rock Nine were nine black students who became the first to integrate an all white school, called Central High School. On Sunday, we traveled from Memphis, Tenn., to Little Rock , Ark., which took three hours. At Little Rock we were able to see The Central High School where history was made.

On Monday we began our community service projects. My service project was aimed toward SlaveHaven, which is now a museum. SlaveHaven was known as the Burkle Estate. It is believed that Burkle, who was a German, helped slaves escape to the north by hiding them in his house. Our job was to renovate the front porch and also re-paint the interior walls. My group was sooooo great and I had so much fun. I learned a lot about the history of slavery in the United States. One thing that I learned was the history regarding the slave ship called Amistad. Amistad was a ship that went from Senegal on route to Spain. While on the ship, the Senegal people rebelled against the slaveowners and killed all but two.They were brought to Connecticut and were arrested. After a long struggle, the States gave the Africans the right to travel back to Senegal. That was an amazing story.