This semester I decided to take an Intro to Anthropology course hoping to learn about some unique cultures around the world. The teacher offered an extra credit opportunity that encouraged students to pick a museum that focused on a cultural experience or history. I’ve always wanted to visit the MLK Historical Site, so I figured this was the perfect occasion.

I decided to go on my birthday. It was a Monday, so there were few people there during my session. It was interesting exploring King’s birth home and learning the history of how his family got the home and why they moved. I also learned a lot about his personal life and upbringing.

When I first got there my mom and I read stories about black and white people who had lost their lives fighting for Civil Rights. This put things into perspective for me about how easy it is to take thing for granted.

As our tour guide explained some of the histories to us, it was interesting to see the reactions on everyone’s faces. There were times when people felt proud, frustrated or both.

Surprisingly, the responses were almost identical between both the black and white people in my group. This showed me that people can identify with humanity no matter what race they are.

I was disappointed when the tour ended because I felt like there was so much information that I still didn’t know about Dr. King or the Civil Rights Movement, but I had to remember that this tour focused on the childhood and early life of King.

Because of this, I’ve made it a priority to actively research my history this summer. It was important to me that I support this program because the tours are free. I pretty much bought the whole store, but I mostly purchased books and buttons with famous quotes on them.

The thing that made me most proud of my experience was that the staff seemed well equipped with knowledge about Dr. King and his legacy. The information that I learned didn’t sound rehearsed how prompted which makes me believe that the people who work there are genuinely invested in the history.

This is an experience that everyone should have under their belt and I’m glad that I had the experience, but I’m even more excited about being able to go back. I feel like I’ll learn something new each time.