Brooklyn's Progress
January 2001

A growing number of Brooklyn civic leaders and corporate philanthropies are providing financial support to a promising new civil rights program for high school students. Fleet Bank, the Independence Community Foundation and Brooklyn Borough President Howard Golden are among the first to fund Sojourn, a non-profit education project that takes secondary school students on 10-day expeditions to civil rights landmarks in the South. It is anticipated that other foundations, corporations and civic leaders in New York City will soon follow suit.

During a Sojourn expedition, youth participants take part in ethical lesson plans conducted by civil rights veterans John Lewis (U.S. Congressman, GA), Myrlie Evers Williams (Medgar Evers’ widow), members of the Little Rock Nine, voting rights pioneer Robert Moses, Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth (a leader of the 1963 Birmingham movement), Chris McNair (father of one of four little girls killed in a Birmingham church bombing) and Martin Luther King III, among others. Founded in August 1999 by San Francisco Bay Area high school teacher Jeff Steinberg, Sojourn has served 665 students from that community and Oakland, California. The program is now moving into Brooklyn, Manhattan, Los Angeles and some of the communities it visits in the South. Through Mr. Steinberg’s “living history” curriculum — books, documentaries, audio recordings, on-site experiences and the reflections of civil rights movement veterans — lessons of tolerance, nonviolence, personal courage, compassion, forgiveness, faith, hope, justice and civic responsibility are imparted.

Brooklyn resident Sean Devlin heads up Sojourn’s New York chapter as the project’s deputy director. “When Jeff and I began our work,” Mr. Devlin recently recalled, “We had no money and two directives. Martin Luther King III wanted Sojourn to become a national program, and Congressman John Lewis urged us to focus on serving low-income students. Eighteen months later, we have some spectacular results to show for our efforts: more than 600 students exposed to a unique learning experience and over a million dollars raised to underwrite the program. By the end of this school year we will have served over 1000 participants. I believe Brooklyn and the other boroughs ought to be a significant part of that success.”

In May 2000, Mr. Devlin left his position as a producer for MSNBC’s “Time & Again with Jane Pauley” and set out to introduce Sojourn to his own community. A Park Slope resident of 10 years, Devlin began with a walk down Seventh Avenue to the office of State Assembly member, James Brennan. Mr. Brennan’s office introduced him to Assembly member Roger Green, and discussions began about procuring program support from the New York State Legislature. At the same time, Barry Weinbrom, a teacher at John Jay High School, invited Mr. Devlin to present the program to his leadership class and provided him with contact information for the Independence Community Foundation.

“I obviously have a lot of confidence in the program, but you can never do something like this on your own,” Mr. Devlin reflected, “And it was the enthusiasm of people at Independence, Fleet Bank and President Golden’s office that gave Sojourn its first foothold in our community.” The offices of City Councilman Kenneth Fisher and NYCBOE president William C. Thompson also pledged early support for the program. “Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez and the Rev. Paul Smith of First Presbyterian Church have been tireless supporters as well, writing letters of endorsement and doing all they can to ensure Sojourn’s success here in Brooklyn,” Mr. Devlin added.

It appears that not a day goes by without a new step forward for Sojourn in New York. Fleet Bank recently agreed to award the winner of an essay contest (sponsored by the Central Brooklyn Martin Luther King Commission in conjunction with Congressman Major Owens) with a scholarship to join one of Sojourn’s upcoming expeditions to the South. The provost of Medgar Evers College recently approved three units of elective college credit for high school students who successfully complete a post-trip course on the civil rights era and contemporary social justice issues. Participating Brooklyn high schools, students, school district leaders and established non-profit programs like the Arthur Ashe Institute for Urban Health, the 1199 Child Care Fund, Miracle Makers and Prep for Prep are also welcoming the services Sojourn has to offer.

MSNBC.com and TIME For Kids recently provided the project with its first national media coverage. Mr. Devlin, who co-produced 12 “Time & Again” episodes on the civil rights era, is conducting an eight-part introductory course for student candidates and hopes to underwrite the participation of as many as 90 youths from Brooklyn and Manhattan in Sojourn this school year. By next school year he plans to roll out the program in all five boroughs and serve 300-500 students.

“Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had — and our civil rights veterans still have — a vision called ‘the beloved community,’ in which everyone’s destiny is bound together for the common good of our society,” Mr. Devlin observed. “Sojourn still has a lot of grant proposals pending in Brooklyn and Manhattan for program support, and I don’t want to jinx our chances by prematurely mentioning any names, but the majority of that potential support is in our own beloved community right here. If you want to make a difference, particularly in these days when voting rights issues are a major concern to citizens of good conscience, you’ve got to start somewhere, and your own community is as good a place as any to get the busses rolling.”

You can learn more about the Sojourn civil rights project on the Internet at http://www.sojournproject.org/ or contact Sean Devlin at 718-768-1365, or at Interdisc@earthlink.net.