Montgomery: Legacy and Civil Rights Road
Photo: DXR, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
Few American cities hold as much of the nation's story in so few blocks. This tour follows it in order: the slave trade on the Alabama River and at Court Square, the decades of racial terror lynching, the 1955 bus boycott, the 1961 Freedom Rides, the 1965 march from Selma to the Capitol, and the mass incarceration of today.
It starts at The Legacy Museum, one of the Legacy Sites created by the Equal Justice Initiative, the nonprofit founded by attorney Bryan Stevenson. The museum, the National Memorial for Peace and Justice and Freedom Monument Sculpture Park need a ticket: one general admission pass covers all three, the museum uses timed entry, and free shuttles run between the sites. EJI's newest site, Montgomery Square, is free. The sites close on Tuesdays; check legacysites.eji.org for current hours and prices before you go.
Plan on about four hours with ten stops, mixing the shuttle with short walks of 5 to 15 minutes downtown. Take your time: much of what you will see asks for quiet.
10 stops on this tour:
The Legacy Museum - Where the Story Begins
Freedom Monument Sculpture Park - Names Chosen in Freedom
Court Square Fountain - The Market at the Heart of Town
National Memorial for Peace and Justice - A Monument for Every County
Rosa Parks Museum - The Stop at Montgomery and Moulton
Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church - A Young Pastor's Pulpit
Freedom Rides Museum - The Station of 1961
Montgomery Square - The Decade That Changed the World
Alabama State Capitol - Where the March Ended
Civil Rights Memorial - Water Over the Names
Plan your visit
- Route: 10 stops · about 6.1 miles · walking, plus a ride for the longer legs
- Time: about 4 hours at an easy pace, with stops
- Start: The Legacy Museum (directions)
- Cost: free tour; the site itself charges an entrance fee
- Audio: narrated - tap ▶ Listen at the top of any stop
Stops on this tour
- The Legacy Museum - Where the Story Begins
- Freedom Monument Sculpture Park - Names Chosen in Freedom
- Court Square Fountain - The Market at the Heart of Town
- National Memorial for Peace and Justice - A Monument for Every County
- Rosa Parks Museum - The Stop at Montgomery and Moulton
- Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church - A Young Pastor's Pulpit
- Freedom Rides Museum - The Station of 1961
- Montgomery Square - The Decade That Changed the World
- Alabama State Capitol - Where the March Ended
- Civil Rights Memorial - Water Over the Names
More tours nearby
- Selma: Bloody Sunday and the Vote (41 mi) - Walk the route of Bloody Sunday from Brown Chapel to the Edmund Pettus Bridge, and meet the people who won the right to vote.
- New Orleans French Quarter Walk (278 mi) - A two-hour loop through the old city, where French, Spanish, African and Caribbean roots shaped the buildings, the music and the food.