{"id":77752,"date":"2019-09-30T23:59:02","date_gmt":"2019-10-01T06:59:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/?p=77752"},"modified":"2020-07-06T14:09:45","modified_gmt":"2020-07-06T21:09:45","slug":"uncommon-path-civil-bike-tours-atlanta","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/news\/uncommon-path-civil-bike-tours-atlanta","title":{"rendered":"Re-Riding History"},"content":{"rendered":"

A version of this story appeared in the fall 2019 issue of\u00a0Uncommon Path<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Hidden under a magnolia tree at the Georgia State Capitol is a bronze statue depicting a complex chapter of the state\u2019s history. It shows the 33 Black legislators who were elected to the General Assembly during Reconstruction only to be expelled by their white colleagues almost immediately after. It would be nearly a century before another Black lawmaker was admitted to the statehouse.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou would miss that if you were in a car,\u201d says Nedra Deadwyler, the youthful, 43-year-old founder of Atlanta\u2019s Civil Bikes. \u201cYou can\u2019t even see it from the sidewalk.\u201d<\/p>\n

The statue, located near monuments to white supremacists, including Ku Klux Klan leader John Brown Gordon, is just one of the stops on Deadwyler\u2019s tour, a two-wheeled journey through the (in some cases, literally) hidden history of the civil rights movement in Atlanta. The route wends through a city where issues of social justice and racial equality are as real and present as the potholes on its streets. Deadwyler, with her gentle presence and easy smile, helps navigate the tricky terrain.<\/p>\n

Deadwyler inaugurated Civil Bikes with a group ride on Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 2014. Now she and her team run public and private biking and walking tours that visit Atlanta\u2019s first park for African Americans, opened at a time when the city\u2019s main green space, Piedmont Park, was segregated; the Auburn Avenue corridor, home to Atlanta\u2019s historically Black business district and the birthplace of King; and more.<\/p>\n

A Georgia native, Deadwyler discovered her love of bicycling while living in New York City and earning a master\u2019s degree in social work from New York University.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was either walking or biking where I felt like I actually\u00a0connected to people, to the history,\u201d she says. \u201cYou sense more, you connect more, the rhythm [of the city] becomes a part of you. If you\u2019re in a car or on a bus, you\u2019re so disconnected and in your own bubble, and your own thoughts override anything that could come at you from the environment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A

In Woodruff Park, where rallies protested the brutal inequalities of the justice system.<\/p><\/div>\n

When Deadwyler came back to notoriously traffic-choked Atlanta, she wanted to find a way to keep riding while also connecting people to the lesser-known stories of the city\u2019s past and present, channeling voices that had long since been silenced. That meant visiting monuments and historic sites and stops at businesses owned by Blacks, women, immigrants and people of color; she says 25% to 50% of the admission fee is spent in the communities visited.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about the preservation of spaces and also of culture,\u201d Deadwyler says, noting that many longtime residents of these neighborhoods face displacement from rising rents, a consequence of the city\u2019s rapid gentrification. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to build a relationship between the existing community and the new community, otherwise they\u2019ll never come together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Deadwyler\u2019s background in social work helps her mediate conversations about delicate topics that arise on the tours, which can inspire intense emotions. On one tour in 2014, a college-age kid brought his 50-year-old parents, who had raised their son with an awareness of the civil rights movement. Deadwyler\u2019s narration proved to be a \u201cfull-circle moment\u201d for the mother. At one point, she had to pull over because she\u2019d started to cry. \u201cIt was so heart-wrenching\u2014and also a beautiful moment for all of us,\u201d Deadwyler says. \u201cIt\u2019s one that has stuck with me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Bike

Riders rest in the shadow of giants\u2014in this case, civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis.<\/p><\/div>\n

But the most common reaction to the tours? Discomfort.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost people are uncomfortable with the discussion around race,\u201d Deadwyler says, adding that even using seemingly benign descriptors like \u201cBlack people\u201d and \u201cwhite people\u201d can make some uneasy. \u201cSometimes it\u2019s about interacting with someone\u2019s silence. We\u2019re trying to invite people to interact with space and place and history, [and that requires] a willingness to be vulnerable in ways we\u2019re not always comfortable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Often cultural and racial gaps show\u2014and in those moments, in those differences, something can be learned. One insight: Deadwyler says non-Black participants are more likely to look for a positive takeaway, whereas Black riders can better handle stories of suffering and injustice. And surprises abound. She recalls leading a tour with middle schoolers from mostly white Telluride, Colorado; their teacher said the students had questions but were afraid they might offend. Deadwyler invited them to speak up, and the result was profound. \u201cThey asked a lot of good questions about me personally and how to help someone who\u2019s new to their town feel like they belong,\u201d she says. \u201cWe talked about belonging, and for seventh- and eighth-graders, that is really deep. Most of us desire to belong no matter where we are.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A

Historic plaques, often missed, tell the story of the civil rights struggle where it happened.<\/p><\/div>\n

Deadwyler hopes those who bike with her come away from the experience with a more complete picture of her home city.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a version of Atlanta that we hear about: You know, the Real Housewives<\/em>, Coca-Cola, King,\u201d she says. \u201cBut I hope that when visitors go on a tour, they leave it knowing there\u2019s much more to Atlanta. I hope they see some of the grit and some of the dirt and some of the shine too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Seeing More Than Sights<\/h4>\n

Pedal to Porch, Detroit
\n<\/strong>Detroit Community organizer Cornetta Lane founded this ride to strengthen the social fabric of Detroit\u2019s neighborhoods. Participants pedal between predetermined stops, where residents use their front porch as a stage to tell their story. Visit Lane\u2019s website to learn how to start your own.\u00a0pedaltoporch.org<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Bike and Brunch Tours, Baltimore<\/strong>
\nThese casual 5-mile tours through Charm City\u2019s historically Black communities end with a group brunch. But in addition to good food, the focus is on what organizers call \u201cthe soul of the city,\u201d a place that is an incubator for intellectual and artistic genius. \u201cWe plan fun, informative and eye-opening rides that may cross some harsh realities but serve as a beacon to the culture, history and virtue that lie at the city\u2019s core.\u201d bikeandbrunchtours.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

BiciBrujxs, El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Ju\u00e1rez, Mexico<\/strong>
\nThis cross-border bike group has hosted rides and other social events to protest violence against women and to support queer, femme, trans, gender-nonconforming and nonbinary communities. facebook.com\/bicibrujxs<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

WTF Bikexplorers, International
\n<\/strong>WTF (Women, Transgender, Femme) Bikexplorers aims to foster connection, gender inclusivity and racial equality through its annual summit and multiday adventure rides on the roads of Vermont, the Gulf Islands of British Columbia and other settings. wtfbikexplorers.com<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Photography by Wes Frazer <\/em><\/p>\n<\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A version of this story appeared in the fall 2019 issue of\u00a0Uncommon Path.\u00a0 Hidden under a magnolia tree at the Georgia State Capitol is a bronze statue depicting a complex chapter of the state\u2019s history. It shows the 33 Black legislators who were elected to the General Assembly during Reconstruction only to be expelled by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":160270,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,685],"tags":[1469,1127,406,1935,692,1542,1934,2024],"internal-tag":[],"class_list":["post-77752","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cycle","category-news","tag-atlanta","tag-cycling","tag-georgia","tag-issue-1","tag-news","tag-south","tag-uncommon-path","tag-uncommon-path-issues"],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/rei.com\/blog\/news\/uncommon-path-civil-bike-tours-atlanta","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Re-Riding History","url":"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/news\/uncommon-path-civil-bike-tours-atlanta","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/news\/uncommon-path-civil-bike-tours-atlanta"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/09\/36A1866_resize.jpg?resize=150%2C150","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/09\/36A1866_resize.jpg?fit=2000%2C1000"},"articleSection":"Cycle","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Michelle Flandreau"}],"creator":["Michelle Flandreau"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Uncommon Path \u2013 An REI Co-op Publication","logo":""},"keywords":["atlanta","cycling","georgia","issue 1","news","south","uncommon path","uncommon path issues"],"dateCreated":"2019-10-01T06:59:02Z","datePublished":"2019-10-01T06:59:02Z","dateModified":"2020-07-06T21:09:45Z"},"rendered":"