Just Peace Pilgrimage Placement

United States Civil Rights Pilgrimage

Explore the history, significance and ongoing implications of the civil rights struggle in the United States.
Explore the history, significance and ongoing implications of the civil rights struggle in the United States.

Service Agency: Chapter 1

Age Range: Family Groups, Friend Groups, Intergenerational Groups, Youth Groups

United States Civil Rights Pilgrimage

Cost: $900

March 11-18, 2025: MMN will host a Civil Rights pilgrimage open to individuals. Please use the “Contact Information” form at the bottom of the page for more information about this pilgrimage or to schedule your group. (registration deadline is January 15, 2025)

April 30-May 4, 2025; Led by Glen Guyton, MC USA executive director: For young adult participants. To foster opportunities for shared learning and deeper understanding, participants will embark on this pilgrimage in pairs, with a partner of a different race than themselves. Cost: $700 (registration deadline is March 15, 2025)

You will learn about the struggle for dignity and humanity from museums, significant places and powerful memorials. 

You will also hear first-hand reflections from people who participated in the civil rights movement as well as learn from others who help unpack the significance of the civil rights movement, the lessons we need to learn from it, and the way in which this is an ongoing struggle for justice and equality that this history both tells and invites us to participate in. 

Your pilgrimage might begin in Tennessee or Georgia with visits to places like the National Center for Human and Civil Rights. Then travel to Alabama and Mississippi for fellowship and prayer with Mission Network partners, guided walking tours and museums.

Civil Rights tour frequently asked questions

Sample itinerary—U.S. Civil Rights Pilgrimage

Day 1
Travel to Atlanta 
Dinner with Casa Alterna 

Day 2
Human and Civil Rights walking tour of Atlanta 
Lunch at Sweet Auburn Curb Market 
Afternoon: Travel to Montgomery  
Evening: Check-in and debrief 

Day 3
National Memorial for Peace and Justice 
Legacy Museum in Montgomery
Evening: Check-in and debrief 

Day 4
Tour of Montgomery and Selma 
Afternoon/Evening: Check-in and Prep for Friday: review story of Freedom Summer murders and watch Neshoba: The Price of Freedom 
Lodging at Pine Lake Fellowship Camp 

Day 5
Tour of Philadelphia, MS, story of Freedom Summer murders 
Dancing Rabbit Treaty Site 
Meal and contacts at Nanih Waiya Mennonite Church 
Evening: Check-in 
Lodging at Pine Lake Camp 

Day 6
Worship with Open Door Mennonite Church in Jackson 
Mississippi Civil Rights Museum 
Conversation with folks from Open Door 
Evening: Check-in 

Day 7
Jackson or Memphis 
Evening check-in and ending celebration 

Day 8
Travel day home  

Pilgrims set out not so much to assist strangers but to eat with them. They journey in the wisdom about transformation held in the Rwandan proverb “if you cannot hear the mouth eating, you cannot hear the mouth crying.

– From The “Practice of Pilgrimage” by Emmanuel Katongole and Chris Rice, Reconciling All Things, 2008.

Related

Civil rights learning tour recap: days one and two

Civil rights learning tour recap: day three

Civil rights learning tour recap: day four

Civil rights learning tour recap: day five

Civil rights learning tour recap: days six and seven

Stir Up Peace

For more information regarding Just Peace Pilgrimages, please fill out the contact form below, including any comments.

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