# The Civil Rights Trail *Jackson to Birmingham through the Black Belt* The Civil Rights Trail is a ~430-mile back-roads route from Jackson to Birmingham on MS 16, US 80 and US 31, driven in 3–4 days, that stays off I-20 / I-85 / I-65 through the Deep South. - **Drive:** Jackson → Birmingham - **Distance:** ~430 mi - **Days:** 3–4 - **Highways:** MS 16, US 80, US 31 - **Avoids:** I-20 / I-85 / I-65 - **Region:** Deep South - **Themes:** Civil Rights, History & Markers, Eats & Institutions The corridor where the movement was fought and won: Medgar Evers's driveway in Jackson, the Neshoba County back roads of Freedom Summer, the Edmund Pettus Bridge, the 54 marching miles of US 80 to Montgomery, and Birmingham's churches and parks. This is the heaviest driving in the atlas and the most important. Take it slow; let it work. Markers: The U.S. Civil Rights Trail and Alabama's Black Heritage markers thread the entire corridor; Mississippi's Freedom Trail markers begin in Jackson. ## The drive, segment by segment ### Mississippi: Jackson to Meridian *Jackson → Meridian · ~115 mi* The Evers home and the state's twin museums, then the Neshoba County roads where three Freedom Summer workers were murdered in June 1964 — and the Meridian hilltop where James Chaney rests. Stops: - **Medgar Evers Home** (Jackson) · Civil Rights — The modest house — now a national monument — where the NAACP field secretary was assassinated in his driveway, June 12, 1963. The design details (no front door facing the street, high windows) tell you what his family lived with. - **Mississippi Civil Rights Museum** (Jackson) · Civil Rights — As good as American museums get — the 'This Little Light of Mine' rotunda will stay with you. Tougaloo College north of town was the movement's safe harbor. - **Mt. Zion & the Neshoba Memorial** (Philadelphia, MS) · Civil Rights — Klansmen burned this church in June 1964 to bait the COFO workers; Chaney, Goodman and Schwerner came, and were murdered on a clay road nearby — the 'Mississippi Burning' case, finally prosecuted in 2005. The rebuilt church keeps their memorial. - **James Chaney's Grave** (Meridian) · Civil Rights — On a quiet hill south of town, his headstone braced by steel after years of vandalism. Meridian was the COFO base; the city's new civil rights trail starts downtown. ### The Black Belt *Meridian → Selma · ~105 mi* Catfish-and-prairie country down to Selma: Brown Chapel, the Voting Rights Museum, and the bridge that needs no introduction. Stops: - **Demopolis** (Demopolis) · Small Towns — A Black Belt river-town breather: Gaineswood's strange grandeur, catfish plates, and the Tombigbee rolling by. Rest here; Selma asks for your full attention tomorrow. ### The March: US 80 *Selma → Montgomery · ~54 mi* The Selma-to-Montgomery National Historic Trail — drive the 54 miles they walked in March 1965, past the Lowndes campsites, to the capitol steps. Stops: - **Edmund Pettus Bridge** (Selma) · Civil Rights — Bloody Sunday, March 7, 1965. Walk it — the rise hides the far side until you crest it, exactly as it hid the troopers. Brown Chapel AME (the staging ground) and the National Voting Rights Museum hold both ends of the story. - **Lowndes Interpretive Center** (White Hall) · Civil Rights — NPS center mid-march at the Tent City site, where evicted Black sharecroppers lived for two years after registering to vote. The Viola Liuzzo memorial stands a few miles on. - **Dexter Avenue & the Capitol** (Montgomery) · Civil Rights — Dr. King's only pulpit (1954–60), one block downhill from the capitol where the march ended and where Jefferson Davis was sworn in a century before — the whole American argument on one street. - **Legacy Museum & National Memorial** (Montgomery) · Civil Rights — EJI's museum (slavery to mass incarceration) and the memorial to lynching victims — steel monuments hanging by county. The most important new memorial in America. Give it the time it asks for. - **Rosa Parks & Freedom Rides Museums** (Montgomery) · Civil Rights — The corner where the boycott began (December 1955) and the Greyhound station where the Freedom Riders were mobbed in May 1961 — preserved as it stood, ticket windows and all. ### To Birmingham *Montgomery → Birmingham · ~95 mi* Montgomery deserves two nights (the Legacy Museum will take a day by itself); then back roads north to Birmingham's churches, parks and the Civil Rights Institute, with spurs to Tuskegee and Anniston. Stops: - **Tuskegee (spur)** (Tuskegee) · History & Markers — Booker T. Washington's campus and Carver's laboratory-museum, plus Moton Field, where the Tuskegee Airmen earned the war's hardest-won wings. - **16th Street Baptist & Kelly Ingram Park** (Birmingham) · Civil Rights — The September 15, 1963 bombing that killed four girls; the park where children faced dogs and hoses that May — its sculptures put you between them. The Civil Rights Institute across the street completes the triangle. - **Freedom Riders Monument (spur)** (Anniston) · Civil Rights — The Greyhound station and the highway shoulder where a bus was firebombed on Mother's Day 1961 — now a national monument. Quiet roadside, loud history. ## Tips and best time to go - Many sites close Mondays; the Legacy Museum needs timed tickets. - Selma's Bridge Crossing Jubilee is the first weekend of March. - This route rewards silence between stops — leave the podcast off. ## Worth a detour - **Gee's Bend** — The quilters' hamlet in a river bend — their work hangs in the Met now. The little ferry from Camden finally returned in 2006 after 44 years; call ahead. - **Ave Maria Grotto** — Cullman, 50 minutes north of Birmingham: a Benedictine monk's 125 miniature holy sites built from junk and devotion over 50 years. - **Vulcan & Moundville** — Birmingham's 56-foot cast-iron god (the world's largest) moons the suburbs nightly; Moundville south of Tuscaloosa was one of the largest pre-Columbian cities north of Mexico. - **Anniston's other landmark** — A 31-foot office chair downtown, 'world's largest' since 1981 — the South contains multitudes. - **Dunn's Falls** — A 65-foot waterfall over the Chunky River with a relocated 1850s gristmill on its lip — Meridian's best-kept secret, minutes off the route. - **Talladega Scenic Drive & Cheaha** — From the Anniston spur, AL 281 climbs the state's spine to Cheaha — Alabama's highest point (2,407 ft) with a CCC stone tower and a restaurant hanging off the bluff. ## Spurs & side-roads - Tuskegee - Anniston Freedom Riders sites ## Frequently asked questions ### How long is The Civil Rights Trail and how many days does it take? The Civil Rights Trail is about 430 miles and takes 3–4 days at a back-roads pace. ### Where does The Civil Rights Trail start and end? It runs from Jackson to Birmingham. ### Which highways does The Civil Rights Trail follow? It follows MS 16, US 80 and US 31. ### Which interstate does The Civil Rights Trail replace? It avoids I-20 / I-85 / I-65, using MS 16, US 80 and US 31 instead. ### How many stops are on The Civil Rights Trail, and what are the highlights? 13 stops are mapped, including Medgar Evers Home, Mississippi Civil Rights Museum, Mt. Zion & the Neshoba Memorial, James Chaney's Grave and Demopolis. ### Which ready-made itineraries include The Civil Rights Trail? The Civil Rights Pilgrimage (7 days), The Deep South Grand Circle (14 days), The Long Way to the Opry (21 days) and The Sacred South: Gospel & Sanctuary (6 days). ### When is the best time to drive The Civil Rights Trail? The atlas’s seasonal note for this route: “Selma's Bridge Crossing Jubilee is the first weekend of March.” ## Ready-made itineraries using this route - [The Civil Rights Pilgrimage](https://dixieroadtrip.com/trips/civilrights-week) — 7 days, ~900 mi - [The Deep South Grand Circle](https://dixieroadtrip.com/trips/deep-south-circle) — 14 days, ~1700 mi - [The Long Way to the Opry](https://dixieroadtrip.com/trips/music-epic) — 21 days, ~3000 mi - [The Sacred South: Gospel & Sanctuary](https://dixieroadtrip.com/trips/sacred-south) — 6 days, ~700 mi ## Road stories on this route - [Driving the Selma to Montgomery Historic Trail](https://dixieroadtrip.com/articles/selma-montgomery-civil-rights-trail) — The 54 miles from Brown Chapel to the Alabama State Capitol ## Connects with - [US 49: Jackson to the Sound](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/us49-piney-woods) — Jackson → Gulfport - [Grant's Vicksburg Campaign](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/grant-campaign) — Loop from Vicksburg - [The Black Belt & Gee's Bend](https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/black-belt-gees-bend) — Tuscaloosa → Selma --- Canonical URL: https://dixieroadtrip.com/routes/civil-rights Publisher: Dixie Media (Dixie Road Trip, https://dixieroadtrip.com/) Last updated: 2026-10-05