Skip to main content
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • |
  • Alumni
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
Sections
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • |
  • Alumni
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit

SU students work on Nancy Larraine Hoffmann’s Civil Rights Connection in Gulf Coast region

Wednesday, June 7, 2006, By News Staff
Share

SU students work on Nancy Larraine Hoffmann’s Civil Rights Connection in Gulf Coast regionJune 07, 2006Jaime Winne Alvarezjlwinne@syr.edu

Syracuse University graduate students Angela Baldridge and Kiran Nagaraj and sophomore Anthony Chavar recently returned from spending 10 days of their summer break in the Gulf Coast region. The SU students went there to help Central New York students share their experiences in the region as part of Civil Rights Connection, a program created and run by former New York State Sen. Nancy Larraine Hoffmann ’70.

Each year, a group of selected high school students from Central New York travels to the South with Hoffmann and chaperones to learn first hand about the Civil Rights Movement. Hoffmann started the program in 1996, based in part on her experiences as a civil rights worker after graduating from SU.

Baldridge and Chavar, students in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, photographed this year’s trip. Nagaraj, a student in the School of Information Studies, provided technical support by managing and updating the design and layout of the website, www.civilrightsconnection.org, and posting daily updates.

According to Hoffmann, SU students have worked with her program in the past, but this was the first year they had to formally apply. Baldridge, Chavar and Nagaraj are receiving credit hours toward their degrees in return for their work on the program. Chavar, a photojournalism major, says his decision to apply stemmed from his love of documentary photography and interest in the Civil Rights Movement.

“I was excited to apply, and after being there with the students on the ground it was even more exciting. They did some great things down there, helping with Hurricane Katrina clean up for their service project and learning about civil rights,” Chavar says. “The interaction with the people of the Gulf Coast region definitely cast a great light not only on the students, but on the Central New York community.”

This year’s group of 16 high school students visited Mississippi and New Orleans, participating in programs and activities. The students were not tourists but rather scholars expected to write daily in personal journals, thoughtfully digest content of programs and activities, and perform a service project that involved Hurricane Katrina clean up. Students stayed in a tent city in Pearlington, Miss., operated by the Presbyterian Disaster Assistance program.

Their journal excerpts, daily updates and Baldridge and Chavar’s photographs were posted on the website by Nagaraj to track their progress. Now that they’ve returned home, the high school students will share their experiences with students at each of their schools and with the community at appearances throughout Central New York.

Photo Gallery

Jocelyn Walker plants honeysuckle in a slave graveyard on the Whitney Plantation in Mississippi. The new owner of the plantation, John Cummings, is turning the plantation into an interactive tribute to American slaves. (Photo AJ Chavar)

Sen. Hoffmann with Charles McLaurin and Jim Lacy at Fannie Lou Hamer’s gravesite. Hoffmann worked alongside McLaurin during the civil rights movement. Lacy is the nephew of Hamer. (Photo AJ Chavar)

R to L: SU students Anthony Chavar, Angela Baldridge, and Kiran Nagaraj work on updating the www.civilrightsconnection.org website from the dorm lounge in Tougaloo College, Tougaloo, MS. (Photo Jennifer Crisp)

SU student Angela Baldridge shoots BB King from backstage at the Medgar Evers Memorial Concert. (Photo AJ Chavar)

Andrew Russell of Jamesville-DeWitt High School surveys the damage in St. David Elementary School in the lower ninth ward of New Orleans. The students were able to wander through the school which was covered in mud and debris. (Photo Angela Baldridge)

SU student Anthony Chavar lowers his camera to get a better angle while shooting pictures in the mud-caked bathroom at St. David Elementary School in the lower ninth ward of New Orleans. (Photo Angela Baldridge)

L to R: SU students Anthony Chavar and Kiran Nagaraj outside the auditorium at a BB King Concert. (Photo Angela Baldridge)

Students and staff participants pose for a final picture at the Syracuse airport after their arrival on June 5. (Photo Angela Baldridge)

  • Author

News Staff

  • Recent
  • June 30 Deadline Set for Fiscal 2023 Year End Business
    Wednesday, May 31, 2023, By News Staff
  • DPS Accepting Sign-Ups for R.A.D. Summer Session
    Wednesday, May 31, 2023, By Alex Haessig
  • Syracuse Stage Adds 2 Musicals to 50th Anniversary Season
    Wednesday, May 31, 2023, By Joanna Penalva
  • Supporting, Advocating for Trans Youth Will Help Them Thrive As Adults
    Friday, May 26, 2023, By Daryl Lovell
  • From Print to the Big Screen, Works by Creative Writing Faculty and Alumni Receive International Acclaim
    Friday, May 26, 2023, By News Staff

More In Uncategorized

Syracuse Views Spring 2023

We want to know how you experience Syracuse University. Take a photo and share it with us. We select photos from a variety of sources. Submit photos of your University experience using #SyracuseU on social media, fill out a submission…

Awards of Excellence Honoree: Maxwell has Been ‘a Guiding Hand’ in Public Service Career

Standing before an audience of fellow Maxwell School alumni gathered in Washington, D.C., for the second annual Maxwell Awards of Excellence, CNN anchor Boris Sanchez ’09 shared the motivation behind his work as a journalist. Sanchez emigrated from Cuba as…

NASA Honoring Those Who Were Aboard Space Shuttle Columbia And Other Late Astronauts

Sean O’Keefe, University Professor in the Maxwell School, was interviewed for the USA Today article “Twenty years later, loss of space shuttle Columbia still teaches us lessons.” The article emphasizes how NASA’s Memorial Grove is used to honor late astronauts,…

NFL, Eagles and Chiefs All Set To Win The Economics Game In Super Bowl LVII

Rodney Paul, director and professor of sport analytics in the Falk School, was quoted in the Washington Examiner story “The economics of the Super Bowl: Hosting, gambling, ads, and more.” The article talks in-depth about all of the economics that…

CEOs Requiring In Person Work Is Hurting Diversity

Arlene Kanter, director of the Disability and Policy Program and professor in the College of Law, was interviewed for the Business Insider article “Some CEOs are pushing workers to return to the office, but it could come with a cost:…

Subscribe to SU Today

If you need help with your subscription, contact sunews@syr.edu.

Connect With Us

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
Social Media Directory

For the Media

Find an Expert Follow @SyracuseUNews
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
  • @SyracuseU
  • @SyracuseUNews
  • @SUCampus
  • Social Media Directory
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Campus Status
  • Syracuse.edu
© 2023 Syracuse University News. All Rights Reserved.