CTZN 410-52 (HON: Seeing the Past)
I took CTZN 410 Seeing the Past to complete the honors symposium requirement for my degree during the spring semester of my Junior year. I wanted to get all of my required classes completed early in my undergraduate career so I would not have to worry about needed a class and it not being available, or god forbid me failing a class and potentially getting held back because that class is only offered at certain times. Luckily, that did not happen, and I was able to take the symposium class before my senior year because I finished all my foundation, pillar, and perspective class requirements by the beginning of my Junior year. This class gave no description, so I was both excited and nervous going into this class, as I had no idea what I was getting into. On the first day of class, I was super confused and worried because I thought I had the wrong class! They were talking about cameras and how it was a photography class and about information that was in an email I never recieved! I was so worried I was in the wrong class or that I was greatly underprepared for what I was getting into. Boy what I wrong, and by the end of this class I was glad it was the one I had chosen!
First of all, this was a photography class. And no, I was not in the wrong class. We were doing something really cool in this class; we were interviewing people affected during the civil right era, and photographing them to record their stories in a newspaper! I thought this was really cool, and I couldn’t wait to start this project. As an honors student, I was in charge of taking pictures, while my partner Matt was in charge of interviewing our person, a lovely man named Earl Townsend. This was my first time doing something like this, and I think he was a great person to have as a first, because he made the whole experience really comfortable and jovial for both Matt and I, especially considering we were new to this. The final project consisted of a 3 page spread in a magazine, of which there were 3-5 pictures and a few thousand words describing the lives of those impacted by the events that occured in Farmville and Prince Edward County during the Civil Rights Era, and even the children of those affected. It even so happened that one of the directors of the Museum that used to be the Moton school was the son of Mr. Townsend, which just shows you how small the world is and how important every little thing is in the grand scheme of things.
Before this project, I had not know Farmville and this area was important during that time at all, and this has just openned my eyes to even more history all around me, and has made me become more aware of just how recent these horrible events were and just how far we have come since then, but alos how far we still need to go because there still exists inequality we can see today. With how open we are today as a society, I do not believe this should be accectible, and I am glad to see we are aware and we are trying to change for the better. I hope to be part of this change.
Symposium Display; Ariel Birkholz; 20 April 2022; Symposium display of Mr. Earl Townsend during different times in his life. The top left shows him as a boy, beside it shows him in the military. To the top right shows him as a deputy at the sheriffs office, and the largest at the bottom shows him as he was while he was being interviewed in Spring 2022.