From Plantation Tour to Commitment

I'm Still Here

This flow traces the emotional and intellectual turning points of Austin's Sankofa journey through Southern Black history.

increasing

Bearing strength in each event

decreasing

A Journey South A Journey South from "I'm Still Here". A Journey South Shared travel Austin joins the Sankofa trip, a three-day journey from Chicago toward Southern sites of Black history.

A Journey South from "I'm Still Here". A Journey South Shared travel Austin joins the Sankofa trip, a three-day journey from Chicago toward Southern sites of Black history.

A Journey South Shared travel Austin joins the Sankofa trip, a three-day journey from Chicago toward Southern sites of Black history. Most participants travel in pairs that bring a Black student together with a white student. Expectations tested The journey begins as an educational program, but the histories it encounters will unsettle assumptions about what students already know. Austin enters the trip with a commitment to learning and leaves with a changed sense of personal connection to the past.

The Plantation's False Story The Plantation's False Story from "I'm Still Here". The Plantation's False Story Romanticized slavery The guides describe enslaved people as happy and their labor as less brutal than it was.

The Plantation's False Story from "I'm Still Here". The Plantation's False Story Romanticized slavery The guides describe enslaved people as happy and their labor as less brutal than it was.

The Plantation's False Story Romanticized slavery The guides describe enslaved people as happy and their labor as less brutal than it was. Their account minimizes suffering and ends by inviting Black students to pick cotton. The group's fracture The spectacle of Black students picking cotton makes the distortion impossible to ignore. Black students are angry, while white students struggle to decide whether to trust the visitors or the people explaining the harm.

The Lynching Museum The Lynching Museum from "I'm Still Here". The Lynching Museum Images of terror The group enters a museum filled with photographs, newspaper accounts, and a postcard showing the spectacle of lynching.

The Lynching Museum from "I'm Still Here". The Lynching Museum Images of terror The group enters a museum filled with photographs, newspaper accounts, and a postcard showing the spectacle of lynching.

The Lynching Museum Images of terror The group enters a museum filled with photographs, newspaper accounts, and a postcard showing the spectacle of lynching. The exhibit makes racial violence visible as public entertainment and community practice. History becomes immediate The students walk in silence and emerge overwhelmed. Austin experiences a collapse between the distant past and the present, as the photographs seem to place living bodies into the history she has learned.

The Bus Conversation The Bus Conversation from "I'm Still Here". The Bus Conversation Defensive reactions White students say they did not know and insist they were not personally present in the past.

The Bus Conversation from "I'm Still Here". The Bus Conversation Defensive reactions White students say they did not know and insist they were not personally present in the past.

The Bus Conversation Defensive reactions White students say they did not know and insist they were not personally present in the past. Black students share family stories and challenge the effort to separate the images from contemporary white life. Truth against politeness A Black senior describes the history as evidence of white evil, breaking the expectation that Black students must protect white listeners from pain. Another white student acknowledges the suffering and promises to work against its repetition.

A Commitment to Act A Commitment to Act from "I'm Still Here". A Commitment to Act A final declaration Before leaving the bus, participants name how they will become agents of change.

A Commitment to Act from "I'm Still Here". A Commitment to Act A final declaration Before leaving the bus, participants name how they will become agents of change.

A Commitment to Act A final declaration Before leaving the bus, participants name how they will become agents of change. Austin cannot remember her exact words, but she knows the commitment was sincere. The beginning of practice She starts showing up at campus events, challenging hiring decisions, and creating small spaces for community. The trip does not provide a finished plan; it makes passivity feel impossible.

During Austin's freshman year of college

At the first major stop on the trip

At the trip's next historical stop

Immediately after leaving the lynching museum

At the end of the Sankofa trip