Project 2: The 3 R's

I have to be honest when we received the instructions for this project I was a little nervous. I had never rode the city bus for any reason and I was definitely not looking forward to it now. I did not have a chance to first read the Chafe excerpt, so I read it after my experience.

While standing at the curb on the corner of Walker Ave. and Aycock St. I decided to be opened minded and make this a learning experience.


When the bus finally arrived, 15 minutes late, we swiped our UNCG first cards and boarded the bus. We took route 9 that headed inbound towards the downtown bus depot. While on the bus I noticed that it was truly not as dirty as I had previously imagined a city bus being. We started up conversations with some of the people that were riding beside of us and learned about why they were riding the bus and how long they had been taking city transportation.



A lot of the people we talked to heavily relied on it to get groceries, get to work and to go to school. While heading downtown on West Market St. I first noticed the United Methodist Church on my left followed by the huge Jefferson Pilot building towering over us on the corner of Greene St.



Then we turned right, by the by the line of apartment buildings, and dead ended on East Washington St. at the J. Douglas Gaylon Depot.



At the depot we pulled into our slip and let off the passengers that were connecting to a different bus and let new passengers on.



A few minutes later we started going again this time back towards the city and onto Friendly Ave. We turned left while passing Center City Park and Bank of America. A few minutes later we got onto Aycock St. and drove past UNCG. The bus let us off at the corner of Spring Garden and Mayflower Rd.

Overall I had a wonderful experience because of the people who I went on the adventure with and the people on the bus, including the bus driver, we so nice and helpful. I was so relieved to get back to my car though because it is definitely inconvenient to not be able to go directly where you need to go in the shortest amount of time.

After reading Civility and Civil Rights I was able to open my eyes to the struggles of segregation that were experienced here in Greensboro, NC. I can not imagine what it must have been like to live in those times, but I am however very proud of how far we have come today in our society. I found it amazing that there was a plaque for Rosa Parks placed in the front of every city bus, recognizing her for her actions in standing up against hatred. The article also made me want to further research the Woolworth sit-ins and appreciate the courage the students had to stand up for what was right!