In anticipation of our Civil Rights Tour

Welcome to Project HIP-HOP's Blog. For the next two weeks we will be traveling through the American South learning about the Civil Rights Movement and meeting with folks who were part of that struggle. Every day a different young person will share their reflections from the trip and we will also share some photos from the experience. For all of you that support Project HIP-HOP this is a great way to see first hand how we are using our resources. For those of you who want to learn more about the Civil Rights Movement, this is a great way to connect with a living history. For the parents of our young people, this is a way to make sure that they are actually learnings something. Whatever drives you to read the blog, I hope you will follow us. Sometimes getting young people to write blogs is a little challenging, so it makes a big difference if they know that there is someone out there reading. If you want to follow us and get an email when new blog posts are up, you can use the link on the right side of the screen to become a follower of this blog. That will allow all the youth to see first hand that there are folks who are reading what they are writing! Mariama White-Hammond, Project HIP-HOP Executive Director

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A Description of the Rosa Parks Project

We got on the bus, two or three of us at a time. “Hi, Everyone! Who can tell me what happened on this day, December 1, 1955?” One of us would ask this while another one of us started passing out the fans. “That’s right, today is the day Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on the front of the bus, paving the way for all Black people to be able to sit anywhere on the bus.” After a short speech about Rosa, when everyone on the bus held a fan in front of their face with Rosa’s photo on it, we took a photograph. These are the images we took today. We hope that more people will join us on March 2, 2010, to commemorate Claudette Colvin in the same way. Claudette is the teenager who inspired Rosa Parks nine months earlier by being the first to refuse to move to the back of the bus. If you’d like to get involved, please contact us at rosaparks@projecthiphop.org.

The Rosa Parks Project in Action - Evening Session

The History We Shared With Bus Riders

On the back of our photos of Rosa Parks was some information about her famous ride. So many of us have not been told the full story. Here is a short version and we invite you to do your own research to learn more -

On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks boarded a city bus in Montgomery, Alabama. She sat in the 5th row with three other Black people. A few stops later, the front four rows were filled with whites, and one white man was left standing. According to law, blacks and whites could not be in the same row, so the bus driver asked all four of the Black people to get up so that the white man could sit down. Three people agreed to get up, but Rosa Parks refused so a policeman came onto the bus and arrested her.

In school we often learn that Rosa Parks’ just didn’t get up because her feet were tired, but the truth is that Rosa Parks was an activist who had already tried to register to vote three times and she was a member of the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People). She was tired of Black people being treated so badly and she had been inspired by a young woman in her community…………..

On March 2, 1955 Claudette Colvin, a teenager from Montgomery was coming from school. When she was asked to give up her seat she refused. "I'd moved for white people before," Colvin said. But this time, she was thinking of the slavery fighters she had read about recently during Negro History Week in February. "The spirit of Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth was in me. I didn't get up." Rosa Parks helped to raise money for Claudette’s legal defense and participated in a training about how to fight segregation. She wasn’t sure if her community would support her but she decided to take a stand anyway.

Monday, Dec. 5, Rosa Parks was tried and convicted. That night there was a packed community meeting where they decided to boycott the buses until the laws were changed to let Black people sit anywhere they wanted on the bus. For more than a year, black people walked and carpooled to work. About 17,000 blacks took part in the boycott initially, but eventually almost 42,000 blacks took part.

The city tried to shut down the car pools. Some people lost their jobs for being a part. But on Dec. 20, 1956, after a federal court order, the bus company was forced to desegregate and the 381-day Montgomery Bus Boycott was finally over. Not only could the black residents of Montgomery now ride city buses as equals, thanks to their efforts so could many other black citizens throughout the nation.

Today we celebrate Rosa Parks and many other people whose bravery made our lives better. However, we also realize that there are still many things that need to change in our community. What is the most important issue to you? How can you stand up just like Rosa?

Want to share your feelings about this project –
Phone – 617-427-7950
Email – rosaparks@projecthiphop.org
MySpace – http://www.myspace.com/projecthiphopboston
Facebook – group name Project HIP-HOP


This action is brought to you by Project HIP-HOP. To learn more about us go to www.projecthiphop.org or to see your picture go to projecthiphopboston.blogspot.com

The Rosa Parks Project in Action - Morning Session

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Valcine's Account of the Wed, the 22nd

Wat up,

"This is Valcine coming 2 ya, live @ 12:11 in New Orleans " Just wanted to catch you guys/girls up on wats been up! I've had a very long day, this afternoon we were cleaning out a water-damaged, mold-infested house. You couldn't imagine! We had to scrub the wood planks and since the water was turned off in the house we had to haul water from a broken water main down the street. Wearing plastic suits and face masks made it really hot and we had to be careful not to hit our hands on the nails sticking out of the wood.



The day ended with a very fun, exciting Mardi Gra parade! We got a lot of beads to give to our friends back home. I have been taken in so much since I've been here including good food and nice weather, way better than it would be in Boston this time of year.

Even with our cold weather, I am missing the 617 and will be very excited to get back home. I will leave you with the reminder to keep checking our blog, because there is more to come including pic's especially of serious damaged houses, funny Mardi Gras parade , all the nice people we've met and more!!!

Shane's Account of our Day

"Wow" what a day we had, we did a lot of cleaning. The first thing that we did was meet with Mr. Ted Quant from the Twomey Center. He had a meeting, but made a little bit of time to talk to us. He is really involved in trying to get New Orleans rebuilt and to make sure that poor people are able to come back to the city. He also talked about how he is impressed with the way that a lot of youth are using hip hop culture to organize in their communities. Then we went out to eat Ms. Jean Brown who is the assistant to Mr. Quant. We had some of the best Gumbo in town.

After we ate we went to see her house that had been flooded with water and had nothing left. Here are some pictures of her house. SHe told us about how her house used to be and that she may rebuild but she is probably not going to move back.


Once we got done looking at her house we helped her to get some stuff out of her attic on Thursday. It was a little dangerous becuase parts of the ceiling had fallen down so there were holes in the ceiling. From her house, which was in New Orleans East, we went to another house in New Orleans East. The house had already been gutted so we had to scrub the wood beams to try to get off dirt so we could put bleach them and get out the mold.

It was really tiring but I got over it and just did what I had to do. One of the things that I felt most good about was helping people be able to get back into their homes. Well I am about to do some other things now and I hope that you stay with the blog because there will be alot coming up. Peace.

Bridging the Gap Between Elders and Youth

When we woke up this morning we weren’t sure what we were going to do for the day. Our service project starts tomorrow so we had a day free. While we were taking turns getting into the shower the members of the Shepards ? Center, began arriving for their daily activities. The building we are staying in, The Carrollton United Methodist Center, houses not only the churches direct activities but supports a number of other local organizations: The Uptown Shepard's Center is a senior citizen center for people living aroudn the church; The Twomey center is a part of Loyola University that does a variety of local and international social justice work. For more information on their work go to (http://www.loyno.edu/twomey/).

After explaining who were and what we had come to do. The director of the Center told us that there was a drama group that started at 9:30pm and that they would love to have us join them. Ms. Inga was a member of the group and told us that she thought they would love to have us in the group – so we decided to come.

We came in the room, set up the chairs and then everyone introduced themselves. We told them what Project HIP-HOP stands for, and even though none them seemed to know what hip hop culture was, they seemed interested in what we were doing. The group was very energetic and young at heart. The instructor invited us to lead a warm-up exercise. Then we broke up into groups to do scenes. One group had worked on a scene for homework, so those of us who had not been there before had 5 min to create an intergenerational scene.

Our scene demonstrated a conflict between young people and elders. We played out a scene where seniors were sitting on the bus and young people got on after-school and were overly excited about going to Mardi Gras. At first the elders were just annoyed by the noise and were asking the youth to be quiet; however, when they realized that the youth were talking about Mardi Gras they started sharing about their first Mardi Gras experiences. The play ended with the youth and elders coming together around their common experience and talking about how they could communicate better in the future.

We enjoyed the chance to do drama, and it was good chance to bridge the gap between elderly people and youth. Everyone told us that we have to come back in time for their play in April. Maybe we will?

Looking forward to doing some service (Shane)

Hi this is shane,

I am having a good time so far down here in New Orleans. Some of the things that I have done so far is taking pictures of the damage, telling stories, and just having a great time with my team. I'm really looking forward to the rest of this trip because I really like helping out other communities.

While I was taking pictures on the bus and in the car I saw alot of houses that had the blue sheeting stuff on the top of alot of roofs - the "blue roof" is from FEMA to cover big wholes in peoples homes that are damaged. Another thing that I saw was how most of the signs from stores were knocked down because of the wind from the hurricane.

I can't wait until i do some community service projects, because that is going to make me really feel useful. Well its 8:31am now and i'm about to get off the computer and go do some other things so i will write again soon.

We are finally in New Orleans (T.J.)

After more than 41 hours of traveling we have finally arrived at the Carollton United Methodist Church. Thankfully the church has wireless, so we will be able to update our blog every day without trouble. Here is what we have to say on the eve of our first real day in New Orleans......
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This is TJ.

When I was at home I was packing all of my stuff and I was kinda nervous. This is my first time leaving Boston. Half of me didn't want to go and half of me was excited to go.

Some things have been a little tough. Sleeping on the bus, having to get up at 2'o'clock in the morning to get off of the bus so it could be cleaned. Basically traveling is tiring. By the time we finally go to New Orleans, the first thing I was thinking about what taking a shower, changing my clothes, and talking to my mother.

Now that I am showered, I feel pretty good. I am still a little stressed about being away from my mother, not having all the money I was supposed to have for the trip, and running low on cell phone minutes - but I'm feeling a little bit more relaxed. As I dictate this entry, Valcine is picking out my hair so that I will look decent when we go get something to eat.

Valcine's Pre-Trip Jitters (Valcine)

Hi. This is Valcine.

I am eager to let everyone know that Project HIP-HOP's Katrina Relief Group sets off tomorrow night. I am very excited, since the last time I visited New Orleans, was two years before the devastating Hurricane hit. I am happy to help, see, and share, but scared at the same time. Why? I understand the old images I have in my head of New Orleans might be forever changed, but I'm excited to get the chance to HELP and let people tell their stories insuring Hurricane survivors and victims are never forgotten!!!

Thanks,

Valcine

P.S. We will be keeping you all informed, don't forget to check for our latest posts!

Welcome to Our Blog

You have reached the Project HIP-HOP Katrina Relief Team Blog. Our team leaves on Saturday, February 18th to travel to the Gulf Coast. Feel free to write and ask us questions and check our blog everyday as we will be updating it frequently.