Students from Rice’s Black Male Leadership Initiative convened in Herring Hall Sept. 9 to reflect on their five-day cultural excursion to Atlanta, sponsored by the Dean of Undergraduates and the Boniuk Institute for Religious Tolerance. William Edmond, Rice’s assistant director of multicultural affairs, organized the trip and moderated the panel, which included Martel College senior Tim Harrison, Sid Richardson junior Mojola Balogun and Hanszen College senior Noah Mengisteab alongside their faculty adviser for the trip, sociology professor Tony Brown.
The trip explored parts of Atlanta that are crucial to the African-American experience, including visits to the MLK National Historic Site, the APEX Museum and Morehouse College, the alma mater of Martin Luther King Jr. and the only all-male historically black college — as well as a surprise encounter with Congressman John Lewis on the final day that brought to life everything they’d just learned about the civil rights era.
