An excellent idea for the start of your tour would be to follow in the great footsteps of the legendary civil rights movement leader, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. You can fly into Birmingham’s Shuttlesworth International Airport, which is also named after a civil rights activist. Martin Luther King visited Birmingham in 1963, which was a seminal year in the civil rights movement. You will notice the man’s impact on the town as soon as you enter it. You should visit Birmingham Civil Rights District, Fourth Avenue North Historic District, and 16th Street Baptist Church, which Dr. King visited.
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Anniston, Alabama, is another town anyone looking to connect more deeply with the civil rights movement should visit. In the early 1960s, the Congress of Racial Equity organized bus trips filled with interracial groups traveling from Washington to the South. The riders meant the trips to challenge segregation in all the various towns. Many Freedom Riders were beaten brutally by white people, including the Ku Klux Klan. On May 14th, 1961, Mother’s Day, there was an attack on Freedom Riders in Anniston that made headlines worldwide. Commemoration in the town will help you deeply connect with the movement.
Birmingham, Alabama
Nashville, Tennessee, is famous for being the home of country music and the country music hall of fame. However, it is also home to the National Museum of African American Music. Music has always been deeply connected to the civil rights movement. In Nashville, you will appreciate how African American music helped with the civil rights movement and how it has shaped music today. It is the only museum of its kind and a venue worth visiting.
Head to Jackson, Mississippi, for the Civil Rights Museum and More
Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historical Park, Church Creek, Maryland
Jackson, Mississippi, is another town with a rich heritage connected to the civil rights movement. Mississippi is a state full of black history heritage, and you will find many cities in the state to visit that will increase your understanding of the civil rights movement. Jackson is critical to the civil rights movement in Mississippi, particularly for the Civil Rights Museum. The museum explores how the state was a crucial organizing point for the civil rights movement in the 1960s. In fact, some of the most potent acts of resistance against segregation, such as the Freedom Rides, started in Mississippi. Other venues to visit include Medgar And Myrlie Evers Home National Monument, Biloxi Wade-Ins, and Bryant’s Grocery.
Anniston, Alabama
There are too many cities you can visit to appreciate and understand the civil rights movement to include on this list. The above cities should be a good starting point to launch your journey. The better your understanding of the civil rights movement, the more you will connect with your humanity.
National Museum of African American Music, Nashville, Tennessee
Harriet Tubman is one of the most noteworthy women in the civil rights movement history. She was a formerly enslaved person who became a leader of the underground railroad. She returned to many slave farms to help free other slaves countless times and used the underground railroad for her daring escapes. In 2017, the area around her home in Church Creek, Maryland, was named a national park that enshrined her legacy. The park will help you connect with the roots and a person who was integral to the emancipation of the enslaved people and the civil rights movement later.
The civil rights movement in the United States of America guided one of the essential changes in human history. The campaign was a testament to the human spirit and what people can do to gain their freedom. It is good to look at where we come from to understand ourselves better, and a tour of US cities seminal to the civil rights movement will do just that. There are many cities in the country you can visit that have deep roots connected to the civil rights movement, including: