She did not know it at the time, but Emma Charles’s 2015 trip to Atlanta, Georgia changed her life. In Atlanta, Emma visited the King Center for Nonviolent Social Change, where she bought this T-shirt commemorating the Freedom Marches of the Civil Rights movement. Yet Emma returned home with more than just a T-shirt: the Atlanta trip awakened within her a passion for social change. From that moment on, Emma vowed to devote her life and education to social change. Eight years later, Emma has kept her promise as she prepares to graduate with a degree in community advocacy and social policy.
Listen to Emma’s story in her own words:
This object is part of the “Expanding Worldview” section of the Artifacts of Experience exhibition designed by University of Cincinnati students in the “Introduction to Public History” course in 2023.
We encourage you to explore the other objects in our collection.
Transcript
Kathryn Siemer [KS]: So, what object did you choose for this exhibit?
Emma Charles [EC]: Yes, I chose a t-shirt that I got on a trip that I took in the summer of 2015. I got it from the King Center in Atlanta, Georgia.
[KS]: Why did you choose this object? What was significant about this trip for you?
[EC]: So, this trip I took with my church parish. We did two sections. We went to Atlanta, Georgia, and Montgomery, Alabama, and we learned about the Civil Rights movement and the actions people took to advocate for progress in civil rights, specifically racial discrimination.
This trip really inspired me to learn more about social movements as a whole, which I then further explored in an advanced studies program the summer before my senior year of high school. Again, that program focused on the Civil Rights Movement and social movements as a whole.
And that was kind of the spark—the trip from the t-shirt was kind of the spark that eventually led me to choose my major in college, community advocacy and social policy from Arizona State University, and really dedicate my professional and personal life to advocating for others.