The story of slavery in the antebellum South as well as some of the significant events in the Modern Civil Rights Movement can be relived during a visit to Memphis, Tennessee. Perched on a bluff overlooking the mighty Mississippi River, Memphis is also a destination with a rich musical heritage.

Student groups travelling the Modern Civil Rights Experience trail will retrace the history of the Movement; learn about the life and tragic assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the era of the Underground Railroad. The tour can also be expanded to include “The Music of Memphis” attractions.

Exploring the Legacy

Located across the street from the Lorraine Motel is the Main Street Rooming House. This is the location where James Earl Ray allegedly fired the fatal shot resulting in the death of Martin Luther King, Jr. Exploring the Legacy answers three critical questions: What happened after Dr. King’s death? Did the Movement die in Memphis? What is the legacy of the Movement nationally and internationally?

Gibson Guitar Factory Tour

The tour of this famous factory takes visitors through the creation of a guitar from a block of wood to the finished product.

Graceland

Graceland is a one-of-a-kind journey through Elvis’s humble beginnings and rise to stardom with up close and personal looks at the influence that forever changed our music and our lives. The tour takes you through the mansion, the car museum, Elvis’ custom jets, and features videos, personal mementos, artifacts, movie memorabilia, and stage costumes.

National Civil Rights Museum

The museum is located at the original Lorraine Motel, site of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1968 assassination. This award winning museum traces the history of the American Civil Rights Movement and honors its leaders through interactive displays, artifacts, hands-on exhibits and audiovisual programs.

The Rock N Soul Museum

The Rock N Soul Museum provides a comprehensive Memphis music experience. Beginning with the rural field hollers and sharecroppers of the 1930’s through the Memphis’ heyday of the 1970’s to its global influence. The tour takes visitors through seven galleries. The digital audio tour guide is packed with over 300 minutes of information, including over 100 songs.

Slavehaven Underground Museum/ Burkle Estate

Jacob Burkle, a German immigrant, used his home as a way station on the Underground Railroad. He provided refuge to those seeking freedom and aided them in safe passage to the Mississippi River. A walk through this stately seven room house reveals trap doors and a hidden cellar, the perfect hiding place for runaway slaves. Visitors will see startling displays of slave auctions, and personal artifacts from the lives and experiences of slaves in the antebellum South.

Stax Records

The Stax Museum of American Soul Music pays tribute to the world’s premier Soul music record label that produced more than 500 hit songs on the pop R&B charts. Learn about famous artists such as Isaac Hayes, Otis Redding and Sam and Dave. The tour begins with a film on the history of the record company and includes interactive exhibits, and a performing arts center. A music academy is also on site.

Sun Studios

Sun Studio is the legendary record label where Elvis Presley recorded his first song. It was also the home to famous Rock-n-Roll stars Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins. The tour takes you through the famous studio and includes interactive exhibits and videos.

W. C. Handy Home & Museum

William Christopher Handy was the world-famous “Father of the Blues.” He composed “St. Louis Blues” and “Beale Street Blues.” This turn-of-the century home/museum contains artifacts and memorabilia, which depict the humble beginnings of this musical genius.

Birmingham, Alabama was a racially segregated city during the 1950’s and 60’s. Student groups traveling the Modern Civil Rights Experience trail will relive the tragedies and triumphs of those who risked their lives to confront segregation and said, “Enough is Enough.”

Birmingham Civil Rights Institute

This award winning exhibition takes students on a journey through the Civil Rights Movement. The tour begins with an 8-minute introductory film. A volunteer docent then guides students through seven different galleries featuring archives from the era. This site provides an excellent overview of the movement and touches on all of the historic places that your students will see as they continue their Civil Rights tour.

Kelly Ingram Park

This park was the epicenter for America’s demonstrations for school integration and civil rights in the 60’s. The park contains dramatic sculptures that vividly depict the “struggle, sacrifice and change” of the era; Ministers Kneeling in Prayer, the Children’s March, Fire Hosing of Demonstrators, Police Dog Attack, Foot Soldiers, and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Sixteenth Street Baptist Church

Used for mass meetings and rallies in favor of integrating Birmingham’s public schools in the early 60’s, this church soon had a larger role to play in the Movement. Just days after the six-year school integration battle was won, the church became infamously known as the site where four young girls lost their lives in a 1963 Ku Klux Klan bombing. The guided tour is led by a volunteer docent and includes a video of the events leading up to and including the bombing.

Selma became the national focus for the voting rights movement on Sunday, March 7, 1965 when 600 peaceful marchers were brutally attacked by mounted deputies and state troopers in what has become known as “Bloody Sunday.” Your students will stop at the Lowndes County Interpretive Center to learn about the events leading up to this historical event, and then visit the National Voting Rights Museum. The tour will conclude with a walk across the Edmond Pettus Bridge.

Edmund Pettus Bridge

Your students will walk across this famous Edmond Pettus Bridge, the site of the Bloody Sunday attack on civil rights marchers by mounted deputies and state troopers. Then your group will visit the memorial park on the far side of the bridge honoring the victims of this senseless act of violence.

Lowndes County Interpretive Center

Located mid-way between Selma and Montgomery, the Lowndes County Interpretive Center is a collage of historical events that occurred during the 1965 Voting Rights Movement. The tour begins with a 25-minute film “Never Lose Sight of Freedom” – an orientation to the critical events of that Movement. Following the movie, A park ranger provides an overview of Tent City – the peaceful protest march from Selma to the state capital in March 1965. The exhibits contain artifacts and vivid sculptures depicting the march.

National Voting Rights Museum

This museum was designed to create a repository of source materials on American history during the voting rights struggle. The museum contains exhibits and artifacts from the Movement and highlights the experiences which fueled Bloody Sunday and the Selma to Montgomery March.

The famous 54-mile right to vote march from Selma to the state capital in 1965 made Montgomery “The Birthplace of Civil Rights.” Your students will tour three historical sites that tell the story of the dramatic struggle of resistance and change.

Civil Rights Memorial

Located near the famous Southern Poverty Law Center, this museum is a moving tribute in water and stone to 40 individuals who gave their lives during the Civil Rights Movement. The tour begins with a short film “Faces in the Water” and provides an opportunity for visitors to join the thousands who have added their names to the “Wall of Tolerance.”

Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church

Three blocks from the state capital, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. preached his first sermon is the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church. Your students will walk in the footsteps of Dr. King and see a grand mural in the basement depicting scenes and personalities from the Civil Rights Movement.

Rosa Parks Museum and Children's Wing

Start your visit aboard the “Cleveland Avenue Time Machine” where you experience a historical reconstruction of significant events on the human rights movement: Dred Scott, Harriet Tubman, and Homer Plessy. Walk next door to the interpretive museum and learn the story of Rosa Parks who defied a city ordinance by refusing to give up her seat to a white person in 1955. The tour begins with a short film on the events of the era, followed by a multi-media reconstruction of Rosa Parks’ actual protest. Students also learn about the Montgomery Bus Boycott organized by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Tuskegee is where Dr. George Washington Carver’s agricultural experiments made Tuskegee Institute the best known black college in America. Tuskegee is also the home of the Tuskegee Airman National Historic Site and the Human & Civil Rights Multi-Cultural Center.

Carver Museum

This National Park Service exhibit spotlights the contributions of scientist George Washington Carver. It focuses on his research on peanuts, sweet potatoes, and other Southern crops that revolutionized the agricultural industry.

Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site

This site revisits the heroics of the Tuskegee Airmen, who helped end segregation in the Armed Forces after World War II. The tour begins with at the Visitor’s Center and an opportunity to see historic films that tell the Tuskegee Airmen story. There are also tours (by appointment) of the Hanger #1 Museum that includes replica airplanes like those flown by the airmen.

Tuskegee Human and Civil Rights Multicultural Center

These rotating exhibits recognize the contributions of Native Americans, Europeans, and African Americans in the Civil Rights Movement. The center also showcases the African American heroes of the infamous Tuskegee Syphilis Study.