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In March 2025, thirty City Colleges of Chicago students, staff, and faculty traveled to Alabama—not just to visit historic sites, but to gain a deeper understanding of the civil rights movement. More than two months later at a reflection luncheon on Tuesday, May 13, students shared how the trip transformed them.
Chancellor Juan Salgado addressed the students who are either participants in the Timuel D. Black Jr. Scholarship & Fellowship (TBSF) program or members of their college’s Student Government Association.
“This trip is an investment,” Chancellor Salgado said. “We are investing in the leaders we need—right now and for the future.”
At the luncheon, students presented slideshows, reflections, and powerful visual presentations.
Wilbur Wright College Biomedical Engineering student Lourdes Johnson shared in a video reflection that she wants to become a doctor. Being able to see the places she had only read about in history books reignited a passion to address racial inequities in healthcare.
Malcolm X College graduate and TBSF scholar Rose Stamps read a narrative about how the trip impacted her.
“This trip means everything to me because I am proud of my Blackness, the history of my people, and all the pain they endured for me,” Rose said.
Harold Washington College student and TBSF scholar Jaiku Neoj processed the trip through the lens of their camera. They developed dozens of black and white photos that were showcased throughout the luncheon space.
“The trip felt like a pilgrimage,” Jaiku shared. “I have a deep appreciation for the history and the individuals who made it possible for me to live as openly as I do. It reignited a fire in me.”
From Olive-Harvey College student Rosario Perez’s celebration of the women behind the movement, to Malcolm X College student Jameka Taylor’s detailed PowerPoint and Harry S Truman College student Laniya Fields’ civic engagement just one day after returning home, it was clear this trip wasn’t the end of something—it was the beginning.
For the student leaders who took part in the Timuel D. Black Jr. Fellowship program, the journey to Birmingham, Montgomery, and Selma was both educational and deeply emotional. From the 16th Street Baptist Church, still scarred by the 1963 bombing, to the Edmund Pettus Bridge, where marchers were met with violence 60 years ago during “Bloody Sunday,” the group walked in the literal footsteps of freedom fighters. They also visited the Legacy Museum and the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, and the newly created “Mothers of Gynecology” site—shedding light on often-overlooked chapters of America’s history.
This annual journey is made possible by the City Colleges of Chicago Foundation and is inspired by the legacy of Professor Timuel D. Black Jr., whose life was dedicated to equity and justice. His late wife Zenobia Johnson-Black attended both the trip and the luncheon, where she thanked Chancellor Salgado and City Colleges for their continued support of her and her husband’s legacy.
Black and white photos shot and developed by Harold Washington College student and Timuel D. Black, Jr. Fellow Jaiku Neoj.
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