Sankofa

Sankofa means looking back, to move forward. Each year, Bethel undertakes a Spring Break journey where a group of students, staff and faculty travel together through sites of the American struggle for civil rights, justice and the Beloved community. This trip provides a weeklong opportunity that allows us to get to know each other, build friendships and work together as diverse people of God. We explore the role of faith, sacrifice and commitment that formed the essence of the civil rights era and how that continues to apply in our community today.

Learning Objective:

Students will engagement with others across race and ethnicity
Students will participant in teamwork activities across differences and within diverse participants
Students will participate in critical discussions and develop complex problem-solving skills
Students will analyze various personal, community, and cultural norms and their value in sustaining African American culture.
Students will address deeply emotional and cognitive challenges and reflection (both personal and structural)
Students will contemplate actions that will lead to social equality

The Concept

“Sankofa” is a word from the Adinkra language of the Akan people of Ghana, West Africa. It is expressed in the Akan language as se wo were fi na wosan kofa a yenki, which literally translates “it is not taboo to go back and fetch what you forgot.”

Sankofa indicates that we must go back to our roots in order to move forward. This concept—like Christ’s redemption—teaches that whatever we have lost, forgotten, forgone, or been stripped of can yet be reclaimed, revived, and preserved for the future.

The Logo

One symbol frequently associated with the term “Sankofa” is the Sankofa bird, which is also referred to as the bird of passage. This bird is looking behind itself, representing the idea that although the bird is constantly moving forward, it continually looks back—to its past.

The Process

Applications are available in the Office of Campus Ministries (HC325; 651.638.6372). Potential applicants are encouraged to apply early in order to begin preparing for this intense experience. Application Deadline for 2012 is November 14th.

After we receive your application, we will contact you in order to meet in person so that we can get to know you and your heart for this trip. Contact the Office of Campus Ministries at ext. 8529 for more information. A $50 deposit is due with your application.

The Applications Deadline Nov. 14th 2011

The Itinerary

Highlights of the trip include the following:

Memphis, Tennessee
National Civil Rights Museum

The trip begins where Martin Luther King Jr.’s life ended. The museum we will visit is formerly the Lorraine Motel, site of Dr. King’s assassination. We will also visit the building across the street from where the fatal shot was fired.

Birmingham, Alabama
Sixteenth Street Baptist Church
Kelly Ingram Park
Birmingham Civil Rights Institute

This is an area rich in civil rights history! We will visit the church where a bomb killed four little girls in a Sunday school classroom, the park where police turned dogs and fire hoses on teenage marchers, and a museum that preserves powerful reminders of these events.

Atlanta, Georgia
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial
Ebenezer Baptist Church

Tour the home where Martin Luther King Jr. grew up as well as the church he led with his father. Spend the day in the King family’s neighborhood and view his final resting place.

Selma, Alabama
National Voting Rights Museum

Cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge where peaceful marchers seeking the right to vote were beaten by police on “Bloody Sunday.” Learn why the timing of this event caught the attention of the nation.

Montgomery, Alabama
Rosa Parks Museum and Library
Civil Rights Memorial Center

The significant history of this area comes to life at a special museum dedicated to Rosa Parks and the Montgomery bus boycotts. We’ll also see how the important work of reconciliation is proceeding in Alabama today.

New Market, Tennessee
Highlander Research and Education Center

The founding principle and guiding philosophy of Highlander is that the answers to the problems facing society lie in the experiences of ordinary people. Those experiences, so often belittled and denigrated in our society, are the keys to grassroots power.