November 18, 2009 — Civil rights pioneer and University of Virginia history professor Julian Bond will lead the fourth U.Va. Civil Rights Program, "Race to the South: From the Klan to Katrina" from March 13 to 19. The tour goes from Memphis, Tenn., to Little Rock, Ark., to the Mississippi cities of Clarksdale, Indianola and Natchez, and on to New Orleans.

Travelers visit sites from the tragic to the inspirational, like the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, site of Martin Luther King's assassination; Central High School in Little Rock, the site of school desegregation; and New Orleans' Hurricane Katrina-ravaged Ninth Ward.

"I want participants to come away with some sense that most of the movement's participants weren't the famous; they were the nameless – ordinary people who in extraordinary times did extraordinary things," Bond said.

Participants will meet people who lived the struggle, as well as many who are still living it today: Minnie Jean Brown Trickey, who as a young teenager confronted the National Guard and a city to integrate Central High School, and historian Douglas Brinkley, who covered Katrina for major television outlets and who has written about the hurricane's impact.

Activities include a Sunday service in Memphis at the Full Gospel Tabernacle Church, led by the Rev. Al Green, the American gospel and soul music singer, and a tour of the Clinton Presidential Library & Museum in Little Rock.

The trip also will trace the development of a truly unique American art form that was an expression of the plight of the African-American communities in the Deep South – the blues.

For University of Virginia faculty and staff, Travel & Learn seminars are non-credit adult learning courses. Apply through Human Resources to use the educational benefit to pay for the tuition portion.

To register, contact program administrator Cynthia Smith at 1-800-346-3882, 434-243-2277 or travelandlearn@virginia.edu.