African American Heritage Tour

   Other than the brutal heat, I really enjoyed taking the African American Heritage Tour. At our first stops at Reese Phifer and Bibb Graves, we read about the story of Autherine Lucy. Even though the court granted her the right to attend the university, the students and white society did not accept her and staged riots to express their rage. Trouillout mentions the idea of scientific racism; the practice of classifying individuals of different phenotypes into discrete races that are either superior of inferior. Even though some groups grew to accept colored people, the majority still clung to the beliefs derived from scientific racism. He also suggests that people had trouble with the idea that by acknowledging the slaves as "humanity" is acknowledging them as human beings that deserve better treatment. Most of the protests against Autherine Lucy took place on the steps of Reese Phifer. It is strange to think about this because I do not think twice as I walk up those very steps every day to attend my class. It gives me a new perspective and appreciation for how far we have come as not only a university but as a society.
   We then walked over to the President's mansion. It was strange to see the separate sets of stairs that were used for the slaves. Trouillout stresses the idea of history being "silenced". History is both what happened and what is said to happen. History is also influenced by the personal beliefs and opinions  of the individual learning about history. Many factors such as gender, race, and religion can influence how you believe events in history actually occurred. Many times, it is just how you imagine the event when you are told about it or read about it. For example, when you read a book and then see the movie, it may not be how you thought. The characters may be completely different then how you imagined them to be.
   I thought that the tour was interesting and it gave me a better, more visual idea of the concepts that are outlined in Trouillout's book. I was able to connect his ideas better and relate them to actual people in history. Learning about a person's real life story helped me better understand the ideas Triuoillot tries to communicate. I was able to put a face and a name to the issues rather than simply learning concepts and hard facts.