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US Civil Rights Trail
The U.S. Civil Rights Trail is a collection of churches, courthouses, schools, museums and other landmarks in the Southern States where activists challenged segregation during the 1950s and 60s to advance social justice.
Embark on a journey of meaningful discovery and memories, where the past will enrich the present and inspire the future. Learn how Selma, Alabama, became the center of a decisive shift in the American conscience or stand where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. challenged the masses and inspired millions. Walk where the oppressed marched against their oppressors and explore the museums that preserve their legacy. Bear witness to the destinations and landmarks that defined the settings of the American civil rights story.
Places where activists successfully sought equal access to public education, public transportation and voting rights comprise many of the locations grouped under the theme “What happened here changed the world.”
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the most visible leader of the movement, is represented in several states. His first church in Montgomery, Alabama, is where he led the successful bus boycott after the arrest of Rosa Parks. The Memphis church where he gave his “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speech the night before his assassination at the Lorraine Motel is a popular destination. The motel, expanded into the National Civil Rights Museum, is the most visited restored civil rights landmark in America.
Key Places of Interest on the Civil Rights Trail
Memphis, Tennessee
National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel is the site where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated while in town to support black sanitation workers demands for fair wages. Exhibits range from the arrest of Rosa Parks and other major events during the civil rights period to contemporary topics. This is the most visited civil rights museum in America.
Clayborn Temple’s ties to the Civil Rights movement reached a pinnacle in 1968 when it became headquarters for the Memphis Sanitation Workers’ Strike. Starting in February 1968, nearly 1,000 sanitation workers marched twice daily from the church to City Hall carrying signs declaring “I AM A MAN.” Located next to Clayborn Temple, the I AM A MAN Plaza features a sculpture alongside a wall filled with the names of those who participated and rallied in the historic 1968 Memphis sanitation strikes. Tours are available by appointment.
Beale Street was created in 1841 and is one of the most iconic streets in America. It began as a thriving area for commerce, musicians, Black-owned businesses and was home to Ida B. Wells’ anti-segregationist newspaper.
Stax Museum of American Soul Music, located on the original site of Stax Records studio since 2003 and now a Tennessee stop on the U.S. Civil Rights Trail, pays special tribute to the artists who recorded there, as well as other American soul legends. Many of the artists and musicians who recorded at Stax were from the surrounding neighbourhood, local churches and schools. In a time when racial tension was high, the studio was integrated from day one, focusing on producing its own sound, a Memphis sound!
Full list of places and sites in Tennessee can be found here...
At the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute you can take a self-guided tour of this multimedia museum that features 58,000 square feet of exhibits, archives, galleries and community rooms.
16th Street Baptist Church is still an active church in the Birmingham community despite its tragic past. In 1963, the church was bombed, resulting in the death of four young black girls. This event galvanised the federal government to take action on civil rights legislation.
The Edmund Pettus Bridge/Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail is a National Historic Landmark and the site of the brutal Bloody Sunday beatings of civil rights marchers during the first march for voting rights.
Civil Rights Memorial is a moving tribute to those who died in the civil rights struggle between 1954 and 1968.
Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church is the first church where Dr. King was a pastor and where meetings to organise the Montgomery Bus Boycott took place and which the U.S. Supreme Court eventually supported.
For a full list of sites featured in Alabama, click here...
The Mississippi Civil Rights Museum, the only state-sponsored civil rights museum in the nation, and the adjoining Museum of Mississippi History opened December 2017 to celebrate the state’s bicentennial.
Visit the Medgar Evers Home Museum and assassination site of the first NAACP field secretary and prominent civil rights activist and organiser.
For a full list of all sites featured in Mississippi, click here...
In 1953 Baton Rouge was the site of the first bus boycott by African Americans of the civil rights movement.
All sites featured in Louisiana can be found here...
For details of the dozens of sites and interviews with foot soldiers and tour guides at some of the landmarks, visit civilrightstrail.com.
