Triptych Blog

For my triptych I chose to immerse myself into three historical moments of the Civil Rights Movement. They are arranged in chronological order. The first picture shows me as Rosa Parks refusing to move to the back of a bus in Montgomery, Alabama on December 1st, 1955. Rosa Parks' boycott of the Jim Crow Laws sparked a huge controversy, and eventually led to a Supreme Court ruling dictating that public transportation segregation was illegal. Next, I chose to put myself in the shoes of the Little Rock Nine- the nine black students who, after Brown vs. Board of Education, tried to exercise their rights to attend an all white school and faced extreme opposition. In this picture I am Elizabeth Eckford being persued by an angry mob on September 4th, 1957. Elizabeth was just 15 years old when this picture was taken- but she fought for her Consititution given rights and eventually earned a college degree and became the first African American in St. Louis to work at a bank in a non-janitorial position. Finally, I decided to become a part of Martin Luther King Jr.'s famous "I Have a Dream" speech. King was the leader of the Civil Rights Movement and led his people to the equalities they have now through peaceful resistance of unjust laws known as civil disobedience. King is legendary for having a tough mind and tender heart.

These three pictures are famous; the subjects of all the pictures share a common bond of strength and perserverance. I chose to project myself as them because I idolize their ability to face adversity and strand their ground no matter how tough things get. I certainly do not possess strength to the same degree that these heroes do, but I like to think that I do my part to stand up for the injustices I see happening around me. My friends tease me for being the "crazy" person who walks up to strangers to stop an argument, puts a bully in their place, and invites the kid sitting alone at lunch to join our table, but I feel compelled to speak up in favor of those who cannot speak for themselves.My interventions are not at all heroic- but I hope that I have helped someone somewhere along the way and I hope they take the same compassion I showed them to help somebody else.