Memphis, Tennessee is a city with a rich historical background, fraught with oppression and segregation, that is now working to fight it’s way toward equality. I’ve currently been in Memphis for almost a week now, trying to survive the heat and humidity, but basking in the warm Southern hospitality shown everywhere I visit. From the gas station to the grocery store parking lot to the library, people here are genuinely friendly and willing to help you accomplish whatever mission you set out for yourself. The other day I was picking up some furniture for my apartment at a thrift store and asked a woman for directions. She told me a couple of times how to get to where I needed to go and then said to me, “You know, why don’t you just follow me out? I’m headin’ that way anyway!” Almost everywhere I go in public, strangers make friendly conversation with me. It reminds me of an idyllic picture I have of the South where two old friends will sit on their rockers on an oversized front porch, drinking sweet tea and watching the neighborhood children ride bikes through a sleepy street. It is this genteel Southern nature that in my opinion, places Memphis at an extraordinary advantage to fixing the egregious oppression of the past.

Memphis is an old Southern city, placed at the corner of Tennessee, Arkansas, and Mississippi, spilling over into all three of the states. Its location was chosen for its proximity to the Mississippi River, which made it a harbor for shipping and transit, and for its bluff which prevented the city from being destructed by flooding and tornadoes. In the mid-1800s, Memphis was a quiet city, with a booming cotton industry (due almost entirely to the slave population). During the Civil War, many black slaves escaped their plantations and settled in Memphis, thus marking the racial battle for territory and prosperity in the city. Throughout the next century and a half, the poorly educated black families would struggle for jobs, rights, and freedom in a city wracked with racism. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was shot in the Lorraine Motel in downtown Memphis, forever changing the battle for racial justice in America.

I was fortunate enough to visit the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis and was blown away by the progression of the Civil Rights Movement in America. One of the things that struck me the most was a sign that was created by a student attending a Freedom School. The sign read “Sometimes in fear, we tread gently when we should STOMP!” In conjunction with this sign were journal entries from Freedom School students who wrote that by attending school, they would be risking their lives. One little girl wrote that “this will be a bloody, bloody summer” for her in her school. These students risked everything so that they could learn the skills they needed to fight for their rights and to wholly own their roles as citizens.

In two months, I will be entering my classroom for the first time, fearful I won’t be good enough to give something of value to my students. I will be in charge of close to a hundred students for eight hours a day, five days a week. I will be accountable for their daily lessons, their assignments, and their consistent growth. I have a lot resting on my shoulders! It would easy for me to let me fear overtake me, do a mediocre job, and to allow my fear to dictate my “treading gently.” Thankfully, I have been encouraged by a voice from the past to not tread gently, but to STOMP.

Memphis, get ready.