As we observe the birthday of one of many nice Civil Rights leaders within the United States, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., I needed to share a number of the Civil Rights websites that it is best to go to along with your youngsters if you wish to increase them to be anti-racist. N
ot everybody can do a full on Civil Rights highway journey alongside the Civil Rights Trail, like we did one summer time. And, whereas the repetition actually drives the message dwelling, you additionally don’t want to go to each sight to show the lesson that must be realized.
So I assumed it could be useful to summarize a number of the notable civil rights sights across the nation — maybe not too removed from dwelling. With at this time’s political local weather, I really feel like it’s as necessary as ever to go to these sights and achieve a real appreciation for the violence and hatred the courageous members of the motion confronted and why the battle nonetheless persists at this time.
We all have one thing to achieve by trying again, evaluating to the current, and being activated to combat for a greater world sooner or later.
Visiting these websites is made simpler with the newly launched US Civil Rights Trail. This path covers greater than 100 places throughout 14 states. I’ve lined just a few of those beneath, in addition to some further websites to contemplate.
Before you go to, I might additionally extremely suggest investing in a duplicate of U.S. Civil Rights Trail: A Traveler’s Guide to the People, Places, and Events that Made the Movement, printed in 2021 from Moon Travel Guides. This submit was written in partnership with Moon Travel Guides, all opinions are my very own.
Civil Rights Sites within the United States
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, Washington DC
This is the primary memorial on the National Mall to honor an African-American. The design of MLK’s picture rising from a mountain got here from a hyperlink in his well-known “I Have a Dream” speech, the place he states, “With this faith, we will be able to hew out of a mountain of despair a stone of hope.” The carved mountain has a slice pulled out, symbolizing the “stone of hope.”
The memorial additionally connects a line between the Lincoln Memorial, the place Luther made his well-known speech, and the Thomas Jefferson Memorial, one authors of the Declaration of Independence which was referenced in that speech. While you might be there you may also go to the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
See my 3-day Washington D.C. itinerary.
John Brown’s Fort, Harper’s Ferry, WV
If you observe the trail to the civil rights motion all the way in which again to the pre-Civil War days of the abolitionist motion it’ll lead you to Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia. Hannah and I ended right here on the way in which again from our two-week highway journey by means of Virginia.
We fell in love with this lovely city, and its fascinating historical past. Read extra about our go to to Harpers Ferry.
International Civil Rights Center & Museum, Greensboro, NC
I first realized about this museum this summer time once I met with the PR crew for Visit Greensboro. There had been a variety of cool issues about this city however what stunned me was a civil rights museum I had by no means heard of.
They have taken the unique Woolworth’s constructing and turned it into the International Civil Rights Center & Museum to commemorate the A&T Four and their position in launching the sit-in motion, conserving the unique footprint of the seats and lunch counter.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Park, Indianapolis, IN
There’s a park simply north of downtown Indianapolis with an unimaginable sculpture devoted to each Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy, and the way their tragic historical past was so intertwined. On the night time of King’s assassination, RFK was as a result of ship a marketing campaign speech to an viewers in an Indianapolis park that was largely folks of shade.
His phrases inspired the group to proceed the legacy of Dr. King and is credited with conserving Indianapolis peaceable that night time, when so many different cities erupted in riots. The speech is highly effective, and I really like that the sculpture itself continues their legacy as peacemakers, and the way we are able to work collectively towards that imaginative and prescient.
Submitted by Nicole Wiltrout, Arrows Sent Forth
Old Courthouse, St. Louis, MO
While St. Louis could also be greatest recognized for its skyline-defining Arch, it additionally has a wealthy historical past of civil rights struggles together with the landmark Dred Scott trials. In 1847, Mr. Scott filed go well with in opposition to his homeowners for his freedom. He misplaced his first case which was tried within the Old Courthouse, however he was granted permission for a re-trial by the Missouri Supreme Court. His case finally went to the U.S. Supreme Court the place he finally received his freedom in 1857. The determination was a significant turning level in American historical past as tensions between the North and South grew. Civil conflict broke out shortly thereafter on April 12, 1861.
If you’re visiting the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, you’ll want to take a while to stroll by means of the Old Courthouse additionally. It’s solely a brief stroll away and it’s an interesting look again on the historical past of race and justice in America. Even if historical past isn’t your factor, the structure is improbable. Consider visiting between Flag Day and Independence Day the place the courthouse is adorned prime to backside with American flags.
See different issues to do in St. Louis.
Submitted by: Carrick Buss, Along for the Trip
National Civil Rights Museum on the Lorraine Motel, Memphis, TN
While many civil rights staff and lunch counter protesters had been skilled in Nashville, the higher website to go to is in Memphis. The National Civil Rights Museum on the Lorraine Motel, the place the place Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, must be in your prime two Civil Rights websites to go to.
It follows the timeline from the start of the slave commerce by means of the purpose of MLK Jr.’s assassination overlooking the rooms he occupied within the Lorraine Motel and the balcony the place he was shot. It touches on all the most important moments of the motion, from the Bus Boycott to the Freedom Rides, the Selma March, the bombings in Birmingham and the lynchings and killings alongside the way in which. It is a robust expertise and by the point you look into the place Dr. King spent his final moments, it’s laborious to carry again tears.
See my 3-days in Memphis itinerary.
Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site, Topeka, KS
The Monroe Elementary School was certainly one of 4 segregated elementary faculties for black kids in Topeka. To memorialize the landmark Supreme Court Case of Brown v. Board of Education, which ended authorized segregation of colleges, this faculty was reopened in 2004 as a National Historic Site and civil rights interpretive middle.
Your go to begins with a 30-minute movie Race and the American Creed, which traces the historical past of racism and segregation. Other displays look at the challenges African Americans confronted whereas making an attempt to obtain a proper training earlier than the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court determination, the legacy of Brown v Board of Education, and an instance kindergarten classroom.
Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site, Little Rock, AR
Arkansas has its personal Civil Rights Heritage Trail, with fairly just a few websites in Little Rock, together with the Clinton Presidential Center, Little Rock Nine Memorial on the State Capitol, and the Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site.
This is the place the “Little Rock Nine”, the 9 African-American college students to first be built-in into this all-white highschool, confronted down the state National Guard and offended protesters who tried to dam their means. Today, this still-functioning faculty is a National Historic Site and civil rights museum with ranger-led excursions.
Mississippi Civil Rights Museum, Jackson, MS
You can hint Mississippi’s civil rights journey on the Mississippi Freedom Trail. In Jackson, you’ll be able to go to the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum. While the museum covers all the Civil Rights Movement, particular consideration is given to the murders of Medgar Evers and Emmett Till.
Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, Birmingham, AL
The Birmingham Civil Right Institute additionally traces the trail of the Civil Right Movement, however this time with particular consideration paid to the historical past in Alabama. It covers Birmingham’s very segregated historical past and as soon as once more walks by means of the most important moments of the motion.
While pretty easy, this museum was Hannah’s favourite on our civil rights highway journey. After a go to, you’ll want to take a stroll by means of the Kelly Ingram Park throughout the road and soak up its highly effective monuments and memorials. You can even go to the sixteenth Street Baptist Church, the place 4 younger women had been murdered in a bombing.
Edmund Pettus Bridge, Selma, AL
I might suggest watching the film Selma earlier than strolling throughout Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma. There isn’t a lot else to see, besides a small interpretive middle on the foot of the bridge, however seeing the bridge in individual after studying about its historical past is an emotional second.
Rosa Parks Museum, Montgomery, AL
In the state capital of Montgomery, you’ll be able to go to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s church, the location of Rosa Parks’ arrest and the courthouse of Judge Frank M. Johnson Jr. For museums, the perfect is the Rosa Parks Museum, which does a wonderful job of utilizing video to inform the story of Rosa Parks and the start of the Montgomery bus boycott.
I assumed I knew the story of Rosa Parks however I used to be mistaken. There had been so many details that I realized that gave much more which means to the actions of this brave girl. After the Rosa Parks Museum, you’ll be able to go to the small Freedom Rides Museum to get the complete story of the Freedom Riders and their bravery.
Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site, Tuskegee, AL
If you’ve youngsters which are into aviation, that is the proper combo of aviation and historical past. Moton Field in Tuskegee was dwelling to an “experiment” to search out out if African-Americans might be skilled to be fight pilots. The Tuskegee Airmen fought in World War II as the primary African-American army aviators within the nation’s historical past.
Today, the hangars at Moton Field home artifacts associated to the Tuskegee Airmen and you’ll even see a airplane they flew. A buddy of mine visited this previous summer time and her youngsters actually loved this website.
National Center for Civil and Human Rights, Atlanta, GA
Of all of the museums and websites that I’ve visited, the National Center for Civil and Human Rights is actually certainly one of my favorites. Because it’s comparatively new, the displays are very trendy and interactive. The strongest of all is the lunch counter exhibit. Visitors have to be 13 to take part, as it is vitally emotional. As you sit down, you don headphones, place your palms on the lunch counter, and shut your eyes. It makes it appear as if persons are throughout you, screaming in your ears and hitting the again of your chair. It is uncooked and disturbing and places you within the footwear of a protestor the way in which nothing else can.
I additionally actually loved the Human Rights exhibit, which talked in regards to the ongoing battle for human rights all over the world, profiling each essentially the most evil violators of these rights, and the strongest advocates.
See my Atlanta with teenagers itinerary.
Women’s Rights National Historical Park, Seneca Falls, NY
I can’t speak about Civil Rights with out additionally together with ladies’s rights. A few years in the past, we visited Seneca Falls, dwelling to the Women’s Rights National Historical Park and the National Women’s Hall of Fame.
Here you’ll be able to find out about ladies’s battle for equal rights and the suitable to vote. If you wish to be impressed by a bunch of highly effective, good, and courageous ladies, undoubtedly embody a cease on the National Women’s Hall of Fame.
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