Two days. Two cities. Hundreds of NCAA Division I student-athletes. It was the trip of a lifetime for Duke football redshirt junior running back Jaylen Coleman and volleyball senior Gracie Johnson as they immersed themselves in the history of Selma and Montgomery, Alabama — one of the centers of the American civil rights movement.
They experienced many emotions, from happiness and sadness, disgust and anger to surprise and wonder. Now, they are prepared to bring all of it back to Duke so others can reap even just a sliver of the knowledge they both garnered over the course of the July 15-17 weekend.
The initiative, conducted in collaboration with the Big Ten and Pac-12, was part of the ACC’s commitment to supporting student-athletes through meaningful educational opportunities, including the area of social justice. The trip was part of the league’s social-justice platform, ACC UNITE.
Joined by managing director of recreation facilities and leader of Duke’s DEIB committee Mike Howard, Coleman and Johnson connected with hundreds of other student-athletes and administrators from the ACC, the Big Ten and Pac-12 for the educational journey.
The experience allowed Coleman and Johnson the opportunity to learn about, see and hear inspirational first-hand accounts of what those brave individuals fighting for equal rights for black Americans lived through, while also encouraging everyone to confront that uncomfortable portion of American history.
“I think you can read so much about Selma,” said Johnson. “You can do all the research and read the books, but you don’t get that full impact until you’re there. Until you’re walking the (Edmund Pettus) bridge with everyone. Until you’re kneeling where Bloody Sunday happened. Everything brought so much emotion and it was impactful and truly a life-changing experience I was extremely fortunate and grateful I got to go on. I just hope I can communicate these ideas to my team.”
Those two days allowed the student-athletes to learn about and reflect on the past. They were educated about those who marched, sat and sacrificed their lives and understood the metaphorical baton was being passed to them to return to their campuses and continue the fight for social justice.
Johnson heard about it through the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and was immediately interested, so when volleyball head coach Jolene Nagel messaged Johnson a couple of months later saying there were still openings, she jumped at…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Duke University…