About a Week
7 days · ~900 miles · from Memphis
Memphis to Birmingham through the movement's ground truth. The most important week in this atlas — built with rest stops, because it asks a lot.
This trip chains: The Blues Highway · The Civil Rights Trail
The National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine — all morning, minimum. Then 61/49 south: the Sumner courthouse and Emmett Till Interpretive Center, Bryant's Grocery at Money. Overnight Greenwood.
Robert Johnson's grave on the way out (the music and the movement share this soil), then Jackson: Medgar Evers's home and the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum until they close.
East through Neshoba County: Mt. Zion's memorial and the Freedom Summer story told where it happened. James Chaney's hilltop grave outside Meridian before dusk.
The Black Belt at two-lane speed — Demopolis catfish for lunch. Selma by afternoon: Brown Chapel, the Voting Rights Museum, and the bridge walked slowly, both directions.
US 80's 54 miles with stops at the Lowndes Interpretive Center and the Liuzzo memorial. Evening at the Capitol steps and Dexter Avenue, where the march ended.
The Legacy Museum and the National Memorial for Peace and Justice take a full day, and should. Rosa Parks and the Freedom Rides museums if there's anything left in the tank.
Tuskegee spur (Moton Field's hangars), then Birmingham: 16th Street Baptist, Kelly Ingram Park's sculptures, the Civil Rights Institute. Fly out, or take the Anniston Freedom Riders monument on the drive home.