A bus jam-packed with Washington University students, parents and visitors made its way around St. Louis this weekend and found its way to Ferguson. Bob Hansman, associate professor in the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts and St. Louis native, led the way and what he offered was a contextualized history of the social and economic strife throughout the entirety of the city.

Although a key piece to the story, Ferguson was not necessarily the emphasis of the excursion. Instead, Hansman brought his group to the site of the infamous Pruitt-Igoe projects; they saw the former St. Leo’s church on the North Side, and the court where the controversial Shelley v. Kraemer real estate discrimination case—in which the state ruled it could not enforce race restrictions on housing—was decided in 1948. Every place told its own story, and subsequently these stories amounted to the tumultuous story that is St. Louis.

The bus tours were a new event at this year’s Parent and Family weekend, which saw a higher registration than usual: Around 800 families registered online that they were attending. Other tours explored Cherokee Street, Soulard, Old North St. Louis and Forest Park.

Hansman said he wanted the tour to present a more cumulative and meaningful picture of St. Louis than many people might perceive.

“I find that people think of things very narrowly; they think of them as kind of the ‘photo-op du jour,’ a single issue. So, yeah, there’s police issues in Ferguson, but there’s a long history of many, many other issues in other places that lead to what happened here,” Hansman said. “These things are always meant to be the start, hopefully, of a much larger conversation, a much deeper involvement and a much longer engagement.”

Having lived in St. Louis for most of his life, Hansman used his extensive knowledge of various St. Louis neighborhoods and communities to bring his participants to places that he felt were historically and contextually significant. He stressed that oversensitivity might be further enforcing boundaries that were founded in bigotry.

“The community is no more monolithic than we are. Bigots have always stayed away from our neighborhoods, because they hate us. Now we’ve got students, people with good hearts and resources that we could actually benefit from bargaining with. If they stay away, because they’re supposedly so sensitive, nothing gets done,” Hansman said. “You have to get out in the community, which you’re hesitant to do, to hear people say this to you. We all lament these borders that we’ve created, yet we honor them. Which is it, guys?”

Attendance on the tours was limited to around 30 to 40 people. Tickets had to be purchased in advance, and many who were interested were turned away.

Parent response to the tours seemed generally positive.

“The parents got it. Oh god, it was great. There were parents hugging me with tears in their eyes saying, ‘Thank you, thank you,’” Hansman said. “Good experience hardly captures it. They were stricken by some of the stuff they saw—and passionately concerned.”

Although all of the bus tours sold out, Parent and Family Weekend, which is designed to offer activities appealing to loved ones visiting their students, held other events as well, some of which also required pre-purchased tickets.

According to First Year Center Director Katharine Pei, another popular event was the Voices and Sounds a cappella showcase, which brought in sales for over 900 tickets, though in years past the number has been closer to 700.

Other events included a juggling showcase, a fall festival, faculty spotlights and open houses for various departments.