Student meets civil rights stalwart on Capitol Hill

Deerfield School fifth-grader Courtney Cooper meets U.S. Rep. John Lewis of Georgia with her aunt Bonnie Wendling, left, and mother Karen Cooper at Lewis' Capitol Hill office in Washington, D.C.

Most elementary school civics and history lessons are taught out of a textbook. Or maybe the class takes a field trip to a local museum.

But one Deerfield School student used her spring break to go to the source to expand her knowledge of civil rights.

Courtney Cooper, a student in Katie Hart’s fifth-grade social studies class, traveled to Washington, D.C., with her mother, Karen Cooper, and aunt, Bonnie Wendling, to visit with U.S. Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., a leader in the civil rights movement in the 1960s.

After her class had studied slavery, the civil rights movement, black leaders in history, and made a trip to the Brown v. Board of Education Historical Site in Topeka, the Coopers arranged an interview with Lewis.

Courtney’s class brainstormed questions for her to ask the congressman.

Lewis, 67, has been in Congress since 1987. In the 1960s, he helped lead efforts to end segregation, organized voting rights’ drives and participated in the Selma-to-Montgomery, Ala., march where he was beaten by police.

Lewis was one of 10 speakers at the 1963 March on Washington and witnessed President Lyndon Johnson sign the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Courtney and her family visited Lewis’ Capitol Hill office for the interview. They said they saw many pictures of Lewis with famous civil rights leaders.

Then Lewis led them to the House of Representatives, and he escorted Courtney on the floor of the House.

Courtney sat at his desk on the House floor and made two votes on his behalf by using an electronic card that she inserted into a voting machine. She pushed the “yes” button for both votes. One of the votes was for housing funds for victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Lewis signed two books about the Freedom Rides, a series of nonviolent demonstrations in 1961 as part of the civil rights movement. One book was for Courtney and one for Hart to share with her students.

“I feel like I know these people of history now,” Courtney said. Her mother added, “The visit didn’t feel political, more historical.”

Hart said, “The majority of these students are highly motivated and mature. They have learned life lessons that I hope will make a difference.”

Courtney just smiled when it was suggested she could go back on the House floor someday as a congresswoman.

Courtney Cooper’s interview with rep. john lewis

Courtney Cooper’s classmates at Deerfield School helped her prepare for her visit with U.S. Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., by suggesting questions to ask him. Here are two questions and Lewis’ answers.¢ When spending time with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., how did he make you feel?”Martin Luther King Jr. was like a big brother or a mentor to me because he was 11 years older than me. He inspired me. His advice was that we should always remain nonviolent in our actions.”¢ What was the scariest moment you experienced during the civil rights movement?”There are two things that come to mind. First, during the Freedom Rides, (Birmingham, Ala., police chief) Bull Connor took a group of seven of us out of jail late one night and dropped us on a highway in the middle of nowhere near the Alabama/Tennessee state line. He told us to find our own way back to Nashville. We didn’t know if it was going to be some sort of ambush or not. I thought I was going to die that night. We walked several miles until we found a home of an elderly couple. We banged on their door and yelled that we were the Freedom Riders and we needed help. The husband didn’t want to help us but his wife finally let us in to make a phone call. We called to friends in Nashville to come take us back to Birmingham.

“The other time was during the first March from Selma to Montgomery in 1965 that is now called ‘Bloody Sunday.’ On that day, we were dressed in our Sunday best. I fully expected to be arrested and to spend the night in jail so I had a backpack with an apple, an orange, two books, toothpaste and my toothbrush. We had just started across the Edmund Pettus Bridge when a sheriff told us, ‘You are an illegal gathering. You have two minutes to stop and go back to your churches.’ And after about 90 seconds, the police put on their gas masks and came at us with their clubs and started hitting us and shooting us with tear gas. When the people around the country saw this on the news, they were angry and this eventually led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.”