Knowing Where You're Going: Harlem, NYC

Harlem is one of New York City's most famous and historic neighbourhoods. Originally occupied by Dutch immigrants, it has been a predominantly African American neighbourhood for over a century, as black people migrated to the northern cities, fleeing from the harsh segregation in the South.

When I was growing up, I knew of it from the Harlem Globetrotters, a world famous exhibition basketball team. They're still going today.

I also remember U2's 'Angel of Harlem', a tribute to the late great jazz singer Billie Holiday, performer of the haunting Civil Rights protest song 'Strange Fruit'.

Turns out there was a lot of great music that came out of Harlem, much of it the product of the gospel tradition. Here's an example, from the Harlem Gospel Choir. This is not unlike the sort of musical experience you can expect when we get down to Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta:

Of course, there's lots of other reasons, musical and otherwise, that Harlem is famous. There's the Harlem Shake dance (although the one you know is probably not the actual Harlem Shake). Many influential Hip Hop artists were born and raised in Harlem.

It's the home of the Apollo theatre, scene of many famous concerts and live recordings:

Architecturally, there's the distinctive 'brownstone' houses:

Harlem has at times been known for crime, poverty and poor education statistics. This is partly why Malcolm X's message of black empowerment and high moral values found a large and receptive audience in Harlem. Here he is speaking there in 1963.

What we'll see and do
We are staying in a YHA Hostel on the Upper West Side not too far from Harlem and very handy to Central Park. On our first morning in NYC, we'll be taking a guided walking tour of historic Harlem with Harlem Heritage Tours.

Knowing Where You're Going: Alabama

“Travel is the only thing you buy that makes you richer.”

How much better off are you going to be after this Tour?

To get the most out of a Tour like this it really pays to learn some things about the places you are going before you get there. You will gain so much more if you do a bit of investigating before going there.

History students are at a bit of an advantage here, as you will have to know a lot of this stuff to succeed in your History courses. But all of us will benefit from learning more about the places we'll be visiting.

We are going to be talking about some of those places in the Tour meetings coming up this term, but here's some things to get you started, focusing on the Southern State of Alabama.

MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA (April 16, 17)

Montgomery was the site of the first major protest of the Civil Rights era in 1955, the Montgomery Bus Boycott. It made Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King household names and encouraged the growth of a non-violent mass movement against segregation in the Southern States and prejudice throughout the USA.

Read: History.com covers the boycott really well, with a range of resources.
Watch: Award-winning documentary series 'Eyes on the Prize' still has the best summary.

What We'll See and Do
We'll visit the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church where the boycott was based, the Rosa Parks museum and a couple of organisations that aim to carry on Civil Rights work today, including The Southern Poverty Law Centre.

BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA (April 20)

In 1963, Birmingham was known as 'the most segregated city in America'. Martin Luther King led a month-long campaign of marches, boycotts and sit-ins. He was arrested for breaking segregation laws and wrote his famous 'Letter From a Birmingham Jail' whilst in prison. The campaign gained worldwide attention when Police Commissioner 'Bull' Connor set fire hoses and dogs on demonstrators, many of whom were school children. The violence drew the attention of President John F Kennedy and eventually led to the passing of the Civil Rights Act in 1964, which officially ended segregation.

Read: PBS website has a great summary, with lots of primary sources.
Watch: A 10 minute summary of the Campaign focusing on the children's role in the protest.

What We'll See and Do

We will be visiting the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute to learn about the campaign, as well as key locations around Birmingham where protests took place.

SELMA, ALABAMA (April 18-19)

The end of segregation didn't mean the end of the Civil Rights Movement. The Selma Campaign of 1965 pushed for improved Voting Rights for African Americans. As with Birmingham, Selma had a racist Police Chief known for his violent tendencies. Jim Clark's men attacked and beat peaceful marchers on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in an incident that came to be known as 'Bloody Sunday'. Again, TV pictures circulated around the globe, prompting President Lyndon Johnson to pass the Voting Rights Act later that year.

Read: History.com's summary of the campaign (includes newsreel footage)
Watch: 'Selma' the 2015 movie is brilliant for understanding what made this town world famous.

What We'll See and Do
In Selma, we'll be connecting with local Civil Rights campaigners and visiting the major sites of the Selma Campaign, including the famous Edmund Pettus Bridge (here's President Obama speaking at a march there on the 50th anniversary of the campaign in 2015).

Los Angeles and (Optional) Day at Disneyland

We start off our US adventure with a two day stop in Los Angeles on Saturday the 8th and Sunday the 9th of April.

We have offered a day trip to Disneyland for the first of those days. The second we will spend sightseeing together as a big group. On the first day, the non-Disney people will be making use of a hop-on-hop-off bus to look around central L.A. Click here for a map of possible stops.

Those who are taking the option of the day trip to Disneyland please include the extra $400 for that trip in with your final payment.

We have these people in the Disneyland group:
Anna Pacey, Aspen Berry, Charli Francis, Claudia Bethell, Emelia Paulsen, Eva Kotsikas, Evelyn Sayers, Freddie Diver, Georgia Satterthwaite, Holly Wild, Jess Mills, Katie Tunstall, Millie Crossland, Olivia Pinckney, Olivia Wilson, Polly Forbes and Sam Capon.

In the Hop-on-Hop-off Bus group there is:
Abby Oliver, Alice Floyd, Cate MacArthur, Georgia Benny, Georgia Hintz, Isabella Broughan, Sophie Early and Sophie Norris.

Mid-January Update

Hi everyone,

Happy New Year. Hope 2017 has started well - in less than three months we will be in the USA!

Quite a few things to report as we gear up. Please read carefully through:
- Final tour payments are due this month - on the 25th. Full payment schedule is here. If circumstances have change and paying the final balance is going to be an issue for your family, please contact me as soon as possible.

- We will be holding a Quiz Night and Silent Auction in the middle of March (date TBC). The proceeds from this will go towards a Tour Fund that can be used to tip drivers and for other small costs that need to be borne by the whole group. Please be thinking about people you can approach to donate items for the Silent Auction - goods and vouchers from local businesses are ideal for this sort of thing. The success of the night will largely ride on the success of the auction, so please start thinking and even asking around.

- The travel agent and I have been working on options for our stop in Sydney on the way home. Unfortunately due to airport rules we are likely to have to stay in the Terminal 1 for those hours we are there. This has been recently refurbished, and looks to have opportunities for last minute shopping as per this map, but is in all other respects an airport, so not the most exciting end. If past trips are anything to go by, it might be an opportunity to catch up on some sleep!

- A minor change is currently being made to the itinerary. We are now likely to be spending one night in Birmingham, rather than two, flying out for a very brief stop in Atlanta on the evening of Thursday 20th. This will avoid the very early flight out on the morning of Friday 21st. The downside is that we will now only be staying one night in the awesome historic Tutwiler Hotel in Birmingham:

The upside is that there will still be plenty of time for deep fried chicken waffles at John's City Diner - Southern soul food!

As always, any questions, please let me know - by email preferably.