DBU Report Summer 2021 - Page 15

SUMMER 2021 15 This year, DBU introduced a new travel study trip to South Carolina. The trip, envisioned and led by Vice President for Student Affairs Dr. Jay Harley, focused on South Carolina’s role in both the Civil War and the Civil Rights Era. Students traveled to various cities across South Carolina. While in Charleston, the group visited sites such as Fort Sumter, where the first shots in the Civil War were fired. They also saw Drayton Hall, a prominent plantation preserved and transformed into a museum. They visited the Old Slave Mart Museum, the location where slaves were auctioned in Charleston, and the Mother Emanuel AME Church, the oldest African Methodist Episcopal Church in the Southern U.S., with a rich history Spring Break in South Carolina which includes the location of the tragic Charleston church shootings in 2015. In Columbia, the students visited the Modjeska Monteith Simkins House, a museum celebrating the life and legacy of the civil rights activist, and the South Carolina State House, where the group met with State Senator Thomas McElveen. Throughout the trip, Dr. Harley, Dr. Tempress Asagba, Dean of Students, and Dr. Jordan Davis, Director of Counseling and Spiritual Care, gave engaging lectures and provided students with thought-provoking questions for reflection. The following pages provide reflections from students. DBU students, staff, and faculty pictured with State Senator Thomas McElveen at the South Carolina State House