A
project started by a
California high school teacher to take
students on a trip to the actual places that major events in the
Civil Rights movement took place. Originally it was a
trip that started in
Washington DC and ended in
Memphis for about 100 students and teachers.
After the success of the initial project the organizing teacher founded a non-profit organization to make the same trip available to inner city kids and low income students. Since then 350 more students have been able to make the same trip.
There is usually a guest speaker at each stop and lessons presented by the staff keep the Project from becoming a sightseeing tourist thing.
The really cool part is that the program follows up after the actual trip is over. The students make presentations and speeches to community organizations and papers written can count for college credit. A lot of emphasis is placed on training high school students to peer mentor (that isn't the whole point of the program but an extension of it) at home. Right now the project is working on grant writing for educators to use their experiences in the classroom (not exactly the same as actually going on the trip but it beats nothing, right?) and internships for students after the trip.
Pretty cool.