Truth + Purpose: The Institute for Common Power Learning Tour SPRING 2026

TRUTH + PURPOSE: Common Power Learning Tour

Travel Dates of April 30 - May 5, 2026

The Institute for Common Power is a key education arm of Common Power. In the Institute, we engage in Movement Learning, in which we are inspired by, learn from, and build upon the strategies enacted by movements for Emancipation, Citizenship, Suffrage, Civil Rights, and Justice to inform how we take action to foster a just and inclusive democracy today. We learn both from historical events and contemporary first-hand experiences with the people and institutions that did and are doing transformative work. We are moved, we are part of movements, and we must move. This is Movement Learning.

Join Institute Director Dr. Terry Anne Scott, CP senior leader and Professor David Domke, and other CP staff in an investment in CP's foundational principles of mindset, mojo, mobilization with a trip to Atlanta, Montgomery, Selma, and Birmingham AL. These are not vacations; they are challenging, growing, intentional deep dives into historical and contemporary realities of race and voting justice, realities that are foundational to the work of Common Power. The goal, always, is to move from education to action.

The places we visit will allow us to examine the long history of people of African descent in this country, with specific emphasis on the modern American Civil Rights Movement. Few places are more important than the locations we will visit. Atlanta, Georgia, is the home of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, legendary organizer Ms. Ella Baker, former civil rights hero and U.S. Representative John Lewis, and now U.S. Senator Rev. Raphael Warnock and national voting rights leader Stacey Abrams. We will begin our learning tour there and then will spend most of our time in Alabama in Montgomery, Birmingham, and Selma – a geographical triangle in an east-to-west strip of the South known as the “Black Belt,” named originally for the rich soil coloring but that over time has taken on reference to the African American population there that has been a catalyst for social change in America. Among the people we will meet:

· Dr. Bernard Lafayette Jr., a member of the inner circle for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., international nonviolence leader, and Chair today of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference Board

· Joanne Bland, a Bloody Sunday marcher at age 11, founder today of Journeys for the Soul and leader of the campaign to create “Footsoldiers Park” in Selma

· Hank Stewart, Poet Laureate for the state of Georgia and protege of Dr. CT Vivian and other Atlanta-based civil rights leaders

· Charles Mauldin, a Selma AL student leader and Blood Sunday marcher at age 17, lifelong community leader in Alabama, and introducer of President Joe Biden at Selma Jubilee 2023

The trip is priced at $3500/person for a shared room and $4000 for a single room, to cover costs of hotel rooms, ground transportation, speakers, food, and various fees. Participants also purchase their own airfare. Common Power is pricing this trip at cost to make it as accessible as possible! If you wish to pay by check (and thus no Eventbrite fees), please contact david@commonpower.org for details.

We ask participants to arrive in Atlanta GA by Wednesday evening April 29, and we begin our trip early the next morning, Thursday April 30. We return to Atlanta in the afternoon on the following Tuesday May 5, with flight departures for everyone working smoothly after 415 pm ET.

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