Selma to Montgomery Voting Rights Trail
DESCRIPTION: On 12 November 1996, the US Congress established the Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail to commemorate the 5-day, 54-miles march from Selma to Montgomery for voting rights; trail starts at Brown Chapel AME Church in Selma and travels the route across Edmund Pettus Bridge, along Highway 80 and to the Alabama State Capitol in Montgomery; Jimmie Lee Jackson, shot while trying to protect his mother and grandfather from state troopers during a 1965 voting rights protest in Marion, Alabama; his death sparked the Selma to Montgomery Marches; along the way, stop at the memorial to Viola Liuzzo, a white housewife from Michigan who was killed by Klansmen while transporting Selma to Montgomery voting rights marchers; at the steps of the Alabama State Capitol, where Dr. King delivered one of his greatest speeches, "How Long, Not Long"; the march attracted so much attention because many white Hollywood movie stars and entertainers participated in the concluding Stars for Freedom Rally

WEBSITE: http://www.civilrightstrail.com

Montgomery, AL

252 Montgomery Street
DESCRIPTION: On 1 December 1955, Rosa Parks boarded the bus on Dexter Avenue at Court Square after a long workday as a seamstress at Montgomery Fair Department Store; after the bus traveled three blocks, it stopped at 252 Montgomery Street, where Rosa Parks was made to leave the bus for violating the city’s segregation laws and arrested; when found guilty on 5 December 1955, Rosa Parks was fined $10 plus a court cost of $4, but she appealed; the Montgomery Bus Boycott was triggered by her arrest and became the third major event of the modern Civil Rights Movement; the first major event, Brown vs. Board of Education Supreme Court Decision in May 1954, provided a legal basis for the boycott and other protests and fundraisers to end Jim Crow practices in America; the second major event was the brutal murder of Emmitt Till in Mississippi in August 1955, followed by his open casket funeral in Chicago -- whose photograph was published in nearly every black newspaper and magazine; the site where Rosa Parks was removed from the bus is now home to Rosa Parks Museum & Library at Troy State University; Rosa and husband Raymond Parks, a barber and NAACP worker, were living at 634 Cleveland Court at the time of her arrest

ADDRESS: 252 Montgomery Street  MAP

Court Square
DESCRIPTION: Despite its mundane plaza appearance today, this was a slave auction site before the Civil War and the location of Montgomery Fair Department Store where Rosa Parks worked until the day of her arrest in December 1955

ADDRESS: Dexter Ave at Commerce Street  MAP

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Residence
DESCRIPTION: Dexter Avenue Baptist Church Parsonage was Dr. King's residence from September 1954 to February 1960; King was new to Montgomery when Rosa Parks was arrested on 1 December 1955; Dr. King hadn't developed any enemies or debts, which made him a natural to lead the Montgomery Improvement Association who organized of the bus boycott; nevertheless, leading the bus boycott put the King family at risk; on 31 January 1956, a bomb exploded on the front porch of this home, knocking out two front windows; though inside the house, his wife and oldest daughter were uninjured; King was leading a mass meeting at First Baptist Church several blocks away when the bomb went off; after rushing home, a huge agitated crowd gathered in front; King quickly settled them down and sent everyone home peacefully; the home is restored to look as it did when the King family lived here

DAYS & HOURS: 9a-4p Mon-Fri; 9a-2p Sat

ADMISSION: $3 adults & $2 children under 12

ADDRESS: 315 South Jackson Street  MAP

PHONE: 334-261-3270

WEBSITE: http://www.dakmf.org

 

First Ladies of Montgomery Bus Boycott Marker

DESCRIPTION: Its so easy to think of Rosa Parks as the Mother of the Montgmery Bus Boycott, but that would be untrue; Mary Fairbanks, M.B. Bradford, Jo Ann Robinson, Aurelia S. Browder, Mary Louise Smith, Claudette Colvin, and Susie McDonald played pioneering roles before Rosa Parks and these heroic women did so without support from the NAACP; in 1949, Mary Fairbanks, chair of the English Department at Alabama State University, formed the Women's Political Council of Black Women in Montgomery; in 1950, M.B. Bradford was arrested in Montgomery in violation of bus segreagation laws and Jo Ann Robinson, after being mistreated on a Montgomery bus, became President of Womens Political Council, then vowed to dismantle segregation laws; in 1955, Claudette Colvin and Aurelia S. Browder were arrested/forced to give their seats to white riders; a marker honoring Aurelia Browder and the other ladies has recently beeen placed in front of her home

ADDRESS: 1012 Highland Avenue  MAP

WEBSITE: http://www.aureliasbrowder.com

Dr. E.D. Nixon Residence
DESCRIPTION: Home of the key NAACP official who was known as the planning leader of the Montgomery Bus Boycott; he counseled and worked closely with Dr. King to navigate local politics and logistics to make the boycott successful; curbside viewing only

ADDRESS: 647 Clinton Street  MAP

Centennial Hill Historic District
DESCRIPTION: In it’s heyday it was the neighborhood for prominent black homes and businesses; this district has national importance because the residents of this community put up the first money to fund the Bus Boycott before national money rolled in to help;  its nexus was the intersection of Jackson and High Streets; Malden Brothers Barbershop is one of the oldest remaining businesses in the district

ADDRESS: Jackson Street at High Street  MAP

Nat King Cole’s Residence
DESCRIPTION: Childhood home of Nat King Cole (1919-1965), the great singer famous for such songs as “Mona Lisa” and “The Christmas Song”; Nat King Cole was the first Black entertainer to own a home in Beverly Hills and the 2nd to have their own national TV program; now part of Alabama State University, curbside viewing only

ADDRESS: Hall Street at Tuttle Street  MAP

City of St. Jude
DESCRIPTION: During the 3rd and successful 1955 Selma to Montgomery March for Voting Rights, the grounds of this small city andCatholic social services complex became a haven for more than 30,000 civil rights marchers; famed entertainer Harry Belafonte organized artists for a “Stars for Freedom Rally” on the grounds; artists who attended included Mahalia Jackson; Sammy Davis Jr., Sidney Poitier, Nipsey Russell, James Baldwin, Alan King, Dick Gregory, Billy Eckstein, Tony Bennett, Leonard Benrstein, Lena Horne, Johnny Mathis, Nina Simone and Shelley Winters; many well-known freedom songs such as Oh, Freedom and the late Sam Cooke's A Change is Gonna’ Come, were led by The SNCC Freedom Singers; far more than an artist, Belafonte raised thousands of dollars in bail money for the Freedom Riders, Dr. King and others in the Civil Rights Movement; today the campus building serves as a St. Jude Educational Institute, a Roman Catholic high school

ADDRESS: 2048 West Fairview Avenue  MAP
PHONE: 334-265-6849

Selma, AL

Edmund Pettus Bridge and Civil Rights Memorial Park
DESCRIPTION: Named after Edmund Winston Pettus, a Confederate general and U.S. senator from Selma; the bridge is famous during the Voting Rights March from Selma to Montgomery where marchers were violently attacked by Alabama state troopers at the foot of the bridge on 7 March 1965; that day is known as “Bloody Sunday”; On Sunday 21 March 1965, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. led 600 marchers across this bridge, by the time it successfully concluded in Montgomery, the numbers swelled to 25,000, whom Dr. King addressed from the steps of the Alabama State Capitol; the memorial park includes murals, memorials, and walking path to commemorate the struggle for voting and civil rights

ADDRESS: Broad Street (Highway 80) at Water Avenue  MAP

Brown YMCA
DESCRIPTION: Formed in 1947 as Selma’s first Black branch of the YMCA

ADDRESS: 1133 Minter Ave  MAP

Dallas County Courthouse
DESCRIPTION: Destination of most Selma protest marches for voting rights

ADDRESS: 105 Lauderdale Street  MAP

Old City Hall
DESCRIPTION: Served as a city and county jail in which Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and other protestors were jailed in 1965

ADDRESS: 1300 Alabama Ave  MAP

Old Live Oak Cemetery
DESCRIPTION: A National Register Landmark, which holds the graves of former African-American slaves, teachers, businessmen and politicians; includes the grave of Benjamin S. Turner, the Selma ex-slave who became Alabama’s first black congressman

ADDRESS: Highway 22 West (West Dallas Ave)  MAP

PHONE: 334-875-7241

St. James Hotel
DESCRIPTION: From 1825 to 1893, this hotel was run by a slave, Benjamin S. Turner; he took over the hotel for his owner, who had gone to become a doctor in the Civil War; Benjamin Turner eventually became the county’s first African-American tax collector, one of Selma’s first black city councilmen, and the first African-American for represent Alabama in the U.S. Congress; today it is Selma’s only full-service hotel and has been restored to its former grandeur; walking distance to Selma’s historic sites

ADDRESS: 1200 Water Hotel  MAP

PHONE: 334-872-3234

WEBSITE: http://www.stjameshotelselma.com