Visit the Rosa Parks Museum in Montgomery, at the site where Mrs. Parks was arrested, and ride a Montgomery city bus “time machine” to learn about the key role women played within the movement. The Legacy Museum, located on a site in Montgomery where enslaved people were once warehoused, reopened its doors in October with new exhibits on the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the Transatlantic Slave Trade.
Immerse yourself in the history of the civil rights movement with this audio-guided tour of Montgomery.
For an outdoor alternative, visit the National Memorial for Peace & Justice. This nation’s first and only memorial dedicated to the legacy of enslaved African Americans and people terrorized by lynching, and humiliated by racial segregation and Jim Crow.
In Selma, follow in the footsteps of Dr. King, John Lewis, Reverend Hosea Williams and other Civil Rights leaders by walking across the Edmund Pettus Bridge. On the south side you can check out the small but poignant National Voting Rights Museum, which documents the African-American struggle to vote.
Where to stay in Montgomery:
- Hampton Inn & Suites Montgomery-Downtown
Clean, comfortable rooms and a substantial continental breakfast at this cheerful hotel in an historic building at the centre of town.
- Drury Inn & Suites Montgomery
Located in Montgomery, Alabama, this hotel features free Wi-Fi internet and an on-site swimming pool. Guests will be just 4.8 km from Auburn University’s Montgomery campus.
Home of the great novelists
Alabama has a rich literary heritage including such genres as travel and nature writing, autobiography, and humor, as well as poetry, drama, and fiction.
Among well-known writers either from Alabama or with strong Alabama connections are William Bartram, Philip Henry Gosse, Booker T. Washington, Harper Lee, Truman Capote, Walker Percy, Winston Groom, and Fannie Flagg. With Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird Alabama joined the rare company of states that have contributed a classic not only to American but also to world literature.
Scout, Jem and Boo Radley lived in the fictional community of Maycomb, Alabama, but Harper Lee based her seminal novel To Kill a Mockingbird (1960) on her very real hometown of Monroeville.
Today you can re-live scenes from the novel at the Old Courthouse Museum, restored to its 1930s appearance. Plus you can view exhibits on Lee and her childhood friend and fellow writer Truman Capote, who also grew up here. “Play season” runs April to May, when locals re-enact the entire story on stage.
Lee’s novel was published at a tumultuous time in US history, from Rosa Parks’ refusal to take the back seat in Montgomery (1955), to the courageous Freedom Riders (1961), and Montgomery marches (1965). There’s a lot to see – the Alabama Civil Rights Trail (coupled with the excellent Alabama Civil Rights Trail Podcast) is a good place to start.