MLK Immersion students reflect on their experiences halfway through the immersion trip.

By: Samantha Siedow

March 12, 2025

Dominique Johnson, an MLK program academic adviser and first-year instructor, said going on the MLK 3000 immersion trip has meant everything to her.

Johnson, who is Black, is not able to trace her lineage beyond her last few generations. She said the immersion trip has filled in gaps in her family history she wouldn’t otherwise have known about.

“This trip has been able to help me see some of the insights of my ancestry and form more and stronger bonds with my culture,” Johnson said. “It's been great to do that, it's been empowering, but also of course draining because we've been learning a lot of really deep things.”

University of Minnesota MLK 3000 immersion students and faculty spent a travel day taking them from Natchez, Mississippi, to Montgomery, Alabama. While the travel day offered some much-needed rest halfway through the trip, it also gave students time to reflect on moments and themes with the most staying power.

Johnson said her reaction to content on the trip surprised her.

“Times where I feel like I should be shaken or crying I'm not, and then there are small things that really shake me to my core that I didn't expect to,” Johnson said. “I think it's also been a really, really good way to get to know myself in a deeper way and be able to advocate for the things I need personally.”

Winifred Gerald-Ugwu, a 17-year-old first year political science and sociology of law, criminology and justice major from St. Cloud said seeing the sacrifices people made to give her rights intensified her gratitude to people who paved the way for her rights today.

“I am one person, but I was being thought of when people were marching through the streets from Selma to Montgomery,” Gerald-Ugwu said.

Gerald-Ugwu said the immersion trip has already changed her perspective on life and inspired her to be proactive rather than reactive in her advocacy.

“If there's something I've learned from everyone that's been speaking and everywhere we've gone to, it's about the strive and the commitment to put your mind to a cause,” Gerald-Ugwu said. “A lot of times in my life, in school especially, I feel like we as students are more reactive to things. We wait for things to happen and then we react in different ways, but I feel like we should identify problems before they happen and then be proactive in making sure these problems don't get to a point where they're causing harm.”

Having community building exercises in the class ahead of time was Gerald-Ugwu’s first experience with having a tight-knit community on campus.he said she will be sad when it’s over, but will maintain those connections.

Constantine Osuji, a 20-year-old second-year psychology and human resources major from St. Paul, said he didn’t expect to get close to many students from class on the trip, but that has become one of the most impactful parts of the trip.

“Being able to really see these different personalities has been one of the best parts of the trip,” Osuji said. “I talk to the same people every single day, I feel like, and I don't get a chance to really see different perspectives, so, yeah, that's been one of the best parts.”

Osuji was excited to come on the trip, but he didn’t know how much of the content he’d be able to apply to his own life. He is on the board of the university’s Black student union and said he’ll use the lessons learned in his role upon returning to campus.

A quote from Dr. Flonzie Brown-Wright impacted Osuji to the point where he wrote it in his iPhone notes app.

“If your space is no better when you leave it than when you found it, you need to redefine your journey.” - Dr. Flonzie Brown-Wright

Ousji said a common theme shared by most of the speakers struck him.

“Every speaker has given us a call of action that our generation is the generation to bridge the gap or make the change,” Osuji said. “I'm still questioning that and trying to understand how they're all saying the same thing. That's pretty big for them to say that to us, and I just don't think it's a coincidence.”

Marisela Rodríguez-Gutiérrez, a senior academic adviser for the MLK program and departmental adviser for Chicano and Latino studies, said immersive exhibits and going to places in person has brought everything she’s learned in textbooks to life.

“I have been able to see parallels between the social rights movements that I've been a part of or that make my own history,” Rodríguez-Gutiérrez, who immigrated from Mexico when she was one said. “Even though it's not directly related to my ancestors, I can still see parallels.”

Having experiential, high-impact learning about history where it happened is imperative to student learning, according to Rodríguez-Gutiérrez. She said she wished more students could have similar experiences.

“Being able to have them hear from people that have been part of it, or that were there, especially during the time of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King is really important for them to see this was a real person, a human being that put themselves on the line a lot of the time,” Rodríguez-Gutiérrez said.