First Day

Day 1 June 21, 2009 Nashville, TN



Today we went to the Jefferson Baptist Church and heard Rev. James Thomas speak/preach. It was very interesting to see how the African American church held services. They were very responsive, the congregation would shout "yes Pastor" and "Praise Jesus". They seemed a lot more into it that my experiences at synagogue. One woman talked about having Jesus in our hearts as the most important factor of Christianity;I have noticed that in Seattle, services are a lot more formal. We cannot talk aloud when another person is speaking, and the congregation doesn't express their emotions outwardly. The sermon the Reverend gave was captivating, he had great timing and every one was intrigued. which made me more responsive in turn. He talked about Genesis and Cane and Abel and went on to relate it to today's society. He did it emotionally, focusing on how the emotions of the characters in Genesis were related to us today.



Later, we went to the Nashville Public Library. We went into a room dedicated to the civil rights movement. There were a lot of pictures and books from these detailing Tennessee's involvement in the movement as well as the entire south's. The pastor from church came to speak to us again. He told us about his involvement with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s son, and how he visited MLKing's supposed assassin in jail. He forgave him because it was the right thing to do for himself. He came from Texas to a college here in Tennessee. It was fascinating to learn that blacks were also opposed to the civil rights movement because they thought it was so out of reach and not worth fighting for. Pastor Thomas, who is an intense advocate and participant in the civil rights movement was originally opposed to Dr. King. He said that without several critical people the movement would not have been as successful. Also, they didn't march to gain national attention, which I didn't know. They did it for themselves. The media was never at the places they were getting beat up either, so people who weren't there did not see much of the brutality that went on.



Something I noticed was that people are very friendly here. In church they were so happy for us to be there and gave all of us handshakes and/or hugs. We all gave donations along with the congregation.



For lunch we went to Swetts. It was soul food, which was delicious, but it also had a history in the civil rights movement. The owner originally wanted it to be a grocery store, but people kept asking for food made there, so he turned it into a restaurant. He supported people, white and black, by giving them food when they needed it in tough times and was a community hotspot for food and fun. It was not segregated serving black and white patrons.