Alabama Civil Rights Trail Itinerary
5 days/ 4 nights. Montgomery/ Selma/ Birmingham
We recently filmed along Alabama's Civil Rights Trail for two half hours of our PBS series "Travels with Darley." With our insider's knowledge of this important route, there are great guides who lived through the Civil Rights Movement to make the most of your adventures along this epic trail. Many of these tour guides were child foot soldiers at the time and participated in the movement, making their stories especially poignant.
We hand-curated this Alabama Civil Rights Trail vacation itinerary based on Darley's experiences filming for her Emmy Award-nominated PBS series, "Travels with Darley." This trip will give you personal insights into Alabama's Civil Rights Trail and its rich history.
Darley takes a trolley tour with Michelle Browder in Montgomery and her dog Nick.
Day 1: Travel to Montgomery, Alabama
Travel to Montgomery, Alabama and enjoy the rest of the afternoon at your leisure. You'll want rental car for this vacation. Montgomery is just a two hour and twenty minute drive from Atlanta.
Hotel Recommendations: DoubleTree by Hilton or the Renaissance Montgomery Hotel & Spa
Dinner Recommendation: Dine tonight at Central Restaurant, located in the heart of Montgomery’s Downtown entertainment district. Central is proud to be the #1 rated restaurant in Montgomery, AL on Trip Advisor. Local and seasonal ingredients utilizing fresh Gulf seafood, local meats, greens and more, offering a unique approach to comforting classics. Depending on the weather, there may be indoor or outdoor dining options here.
Day 2: Montgomery Civil Rights Trail
Montgomery City Civil Rights Private Tour Experience
After breakfast, meet your guide Wanda Battle in the lobby of your hotel. Battle is an inspiring woman, who as a child used to sing during Civil Rights rallies with her sister. Follow Wanda Battle on a tour of the major sites of the Civil Rights Trail featured on "Travels with Darley: Alabama Civil Rights Trail," such as:
The former Montgomery City Jail
First Baptist Church
Alabama State Capitol
Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church
Dexter Parsonage Museum
The Harris House
The Ben Moore Hotel/The Malden Brothers Barber Shop
Rosa Parks Apartment
Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church
Holt Street Baptist Church
Mount Zion African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church
The Legacy Museum
Continue on your own to explore The Legacy Museum.
Lunch recommendation: We recommend Pannie George’s Kitchen for Southern style meat and vegetable cuisine.
The Memorial for Peace and Justice or The Freedom Rides Museum
Take the free shuttle from The Legacy Museum to The Memorial for Peace and Justice (runs every 10 min. Feel like exploring by foot? It is a short 20-minute walk through historic Montgomery from the museum to the memorial. While walking through Montgomery, check out the Black Lives Matter artwork surrounding the fountain, which is just down from the Alabama State Capitol. The Museum and Memorial are two separate sites. The Legacy Museum is an indoor narrative museum with audio, exhibits, art, videos, and comprehensive content about the legacy of enslavement through contemporary issues of mass incarceration. The National Memorial is an outdoor memorial situated on a 6-acre space where visitors walk a path through our history of racial injustice.
The Freedom Rides Museum, located in an old segregated Greyhound Bus Station, is also worth a visit. In 1961 groups of volunteers made history by challenging the practice of segregated travel through the South. They called themselves Freedom Riders as they crossed racial barriers in depots and onboard buses. The 1961 Freedom Riders did not begin or end their journey in Montgomery, Alabama, but their arrival changed the city and our nation.
Michelle Browder Guided Tour
Join black artist and activist Michelle Browder and her dog, Nick on a path through the history of Montgomery and the Civil Rights Movement. Michelle's aunt was Aurelia Browder, the plaintiff in the 1956 U.S. District Court case Browder v. Gayle, in which bus segregation was ruled unconstitutional.
Darley with artist and activist Michelle Browder at her mural at the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Some sites on this insider's tour include:
Michelle Browder’s Mural at the Alabama Institute for Social Justice Riverfront Park
The Indian/The slave/The colonizers
History of Montgomery’s Foundation
Hank Williams/ Nat King Cole
Civil Rights Memorial
Sims Hospital where enslaved women were used as experiments
The King’s Canvas
The Mothers of Gynecology Monument
The Club From Nowhere Art Gallery featuring art by Michelle Browder and women local artists.
Dinner recommendation: Tower Taproom
Day 3: Selma, Alabama
Check out at your hotel. Drive from Montgomery to Selma 50 min (49.9 mi) via US-80 W.
Option 1
Civil Rights Driving/ Walking Tour on your own
Explore more of Selma on your own. Locations of interest featured on "Travels with Darley". See and visit some of the sites related to the Civil Rights Movement.
We recommend grabbing a coffee at The Coffee Shoppe at 308 Broad St. (say hi to owner Jackie Smith) and walk over the Edmund Pettus Bridge in your own reenactment of the start of the 54-mile Selma to Montgomery March.
Brown Chapel AME Church
George Washington Carver Homes
First Baptist Church
Historic District of Selma
Edmund Pettus Bridge
Tabernacle Baptist Church, at 1431 Broad St.
Old Depot Museum at 4, Martin Luther King
St. St James Hotel at 1200 Water Ave.
Carter Drug Co. at 133 Broad St.
Selma Interpretive Center at 2 Broad St.
National Voting Rights Museum and Institute at 6, US Hwy 80 East
Lunch Recommendation:
Lunch on own Lannie’s BBQ. This BBQ place is legit!
Option 2
Meet JoAnne Bland for a guided tourtour. Bland lived through the Civil Rights Movement and participated as a child foot soldier, including the Selma to Montgomery March over the Edmund Pettus Bridge. Don’t miss the opportunity to stand in the footsteps of the ordinary people who not only changed Selma, but this nation. Accompany Bland to visit the last piece of cement left from where marchers gathered on March 7, 1965, known today as “Bloody Sunday."
Some sights on this guided tour with Bland include:
● George Washington Carver Homes
● First Baptist Church
● Good Samaritan Hospital
● R. B. Hudson High School
● Selma University
● The Jackson Museum
● Historic District of Selma
● Live Oak Cemetery
● Brown Chapel AME Church
Lunch with a History Maker at McRae-Gaines Learning Center
The History Makers Lunch is an excellent addition to your journey. All of the History Makers were participants in the Civil Rights Movement and have a wealth of history to share. I do not recommend more than 2 additional History Makers as time will not permit. McRae Learning Center provides lunch. This is a school run by Mrs. JoAnne Bland’s Sister, Mrs. Sadie Moss. The children at McRae test higher than any other students in the state. It is a private school that doesn’t receive much funding, but because Mrs. Moss doesn’t turn any student away, they are constantly scraping for cash. Having lunch at McRae is just one of the ways that Journeys For The Soul supports the school and the community and that you can, too!
Trying good BBQ at Lannie’s in Selma.
At your convenience, drive to Birmingham. Travel duration: 1 hr 42 min (86.9 mi) via AL-22W and I-65N
Hotel recommendations: Embassy Suites By Hilton Birmingham or Redmont Hotel.
Evening on own at leisure. Relax and get ready for tomorrow’s Birmingham Civil Rights District.
Dining recommendations: Head to the Avondale neighborhood in Birmingham for pizza Post Office Pies and ice cream post dinner at Big Spoon Creamery. For those who like BBQ, check out SAW's Soul Kitchen. Craft beer lovers may want to have dinner with a view of historic Sloss Furnaces at Back Forty Beer Company.
Day 4: Birmingham, Alabama
Explore Birmingham on your own. Spend some time at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, a museum that charts the history of the Civil Rights Movement and is located in Birmingham's Civil Rights District.
These three sites are located across the street from each other.
Kelly Ingram Park—Site of 1963 Children’s Crusade
Birmingham Civil Rights Institute / Civil Rights Museum: this museum is worth at least 2 hours of your time
Sixteenth Street Baptist Church —Site where 4 little girls lost their lives in a tragic bombing on Sunday, September 15, 1963 (make sure to go to the basement to see the clock, pictured below)
At the 16th Street Baptist Church, head downstairs to see the clock that stopped at 10:22 on the day of the bombing in 1963.
Enjoy lunch on your own at The Pizitz Food Hall where various food stalls offer Korean, American, Mexican and more. Take a walk through Birmingham's historic theatre district and Fourth Avenue Historic District. This was the historic black business area and in its heyday, there were more than 27 theaters within a five-block radius. Snap some photos outside of the Carver Theatre, an Art Deco-style theater located at 1631 4th Avenue and home to Alabama’s Jazz Hall of Fame (under renovation), Lyric Theatre and see the iconic Alabama Theatre.
Other Afternoon Recommendations:
Vulcan Park
Railroad Park - a 19 acre green space in downtown Birmingham that's great for a stroll
Dinner Recommendations: Have drinks and dinner with a view of historic Sloss Furnaces at Back Forty Beer Company. If you didn't visit the Avondale neighborhood last night, consider Post Office Pies and ice cream post dinner at Big Spoon Creamery. For those who like BBQ, check out SAW's Soul Kitchen.
Day 5: Birmingham Breakfast & Home
Check out at your hotel.
We recommended taking a walk through Railroad Park this morning, a revitalized green space in downtown Birmingham and visiting Hero Doughnuts.
