Montgomery & Selma

Where the civil rights movement began and ended: Rosa Parks' bus protest, the Legacy Museum and the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, with Selma's Edmund Pettus Bridge to the west.

Montgomery, the capital of Alabama, sits on the Alabama River in the middle of the state. It was both the birthplace of the Confederacy in 1861 and the cradle of the civil rights movement: in 1955 Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat, sparking the Montgomery bus boycott, and Martin Luther King Jr., then a pastor here, stepped onto the stage of history; in 1965 the Selma to Montgomery march ended on the steps of the State Capitol. Around Dexter Avenue downtown you can walk between the Alabama State Capitol, Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church, the Rosa Parks Museum, the Civil Rights Memorial and the Freedom Rides Museum. The Legacy Museum, the National Memorial for Peace and Justice and the Freedom Monument Sculpture Park (opened in 2024), all created by the Equal Justice Initiative, are visited on a single combined ticket and form the most powerful group of sites on racial history in the country. About 80 km to the west, Selma has the Edmund Pettus Bridge, scene of 'Bloody Sunday,' Brown Chapel and the National Voting Rights Museum, and you can retrace the march by car along the National Historic Trail. About 65 km to the east, Tuskegee has sites linked to the Tuskegee Airmen and the institute founded by Booker T. Washington. The best times are Mar–Apr (for the Selma bridge crossing commemoration) and Oct–Nov; summers are hot and humid with frequent thunderstorms. You'll need a car; Atlanta is about 2.5 hours away and Birmingham about 1.5 hours. Plan on 2–3 days, and don't miss Southern soul food and fried chicken.

Top sights

• The Legacy Museum: From Enslavement to Mass Incarceration – Founded by the Equal Justice Initiative, this museum uses immersive exhibits to tell the story of racial injustice in America, from the sla…
• National Memorial for Peace and Justice – The first national memorial in the United States to lynching victims. More than 800 steel columns inscribed with county names and victims'…
• Rosa Parks Museum – Built on the former bus stop where Rosa Parks was arrested in 1955 for refusing to give up her seat. It recreates the Montgomery bus boycot…
• Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church – The red-brick church where Martin Luther King Jr. served as pastor from 1954 to 1960, and where the bus boycott was planned in the basement…
• Edmund Pettus Bridge – The site of “Bloody Sunday” in 1965, when civil rights marchers demanding voting rights were violently dispersed by state troopers. It help…
• Freedom Monument Sculpture Park – An outdoor park on the banks of the Alabama River that opened in 2024. Contemporary sculptures and a memorial wall inscribed with more than…
• Dexter Parsonage Museum – The parsonage where Martin Luther King Jr. and his family lived from 1954 to 1960. Its original furnishings are preserved, and traces of th…
• Alabama State Capitol – A white Greek Revival legislative building. It was where the Confederate States of America was formed in 1861, and it was the endpoint of t…
• First White House of the Confederacy – The temporary residence in Montgomery of Confederate President Jefferson Davis in 1861. This Italianate house displays original furniture a…
• Civil Rights Memorial & Center – A circular black granite water table designed by Maya Lin, inscribed with the names of 41 martyrs of the civil rights movement, with water…
• Freedom Rides Museum – The former Greyhound bus station where Freedom Riders were attacked by mobs in 1961. Outdoor panels and indoor exhibits tell the story of t…
• Hank Williams Museum – A museum honoring country music legend Hank Williams, displaying his stage costumes, guitars, and the 1952 Cadillac he was riding in when h…
• Old Alabama Town – An open-air historic district downtown, where more than 50 19th-century homes, schoolhouses, churches, and shops recreate everyday life in…
• Court Square Fountain – A cast-iron fountain in the heart of downtown, on the site of a former slave auction market and facing east toward Dexter Avenue and the Ca…
• Riverfront Park – A city park on the bank of the Alabama River, with an amphitheater, the old train station canopy, and paddle-wheel excursion boats, next to…
• Montgomery Whitewater – A man-made whitewater sports center that opened in 2023, offering whitewater rafting, kayaking, and rock climbing. It is one of the largest…
• Alabama Shakespeare Festival – One of the largest Shakespeare festivals in the United States, located in Blount Cultural Park beside a lake with swans, staging classic an…
• Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts – A free art museum in Blount Cultural Park with collections of American painting, Southern art, and folk art, plus an outdoor sculpture trai…
• Montgomery Zoo – A city zoo organized by five continents, housing about 500 animals. Visitors can ride a miniature train or sky ride, and the zoo includes a…
• F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald Museum – The house where F. Scott Fitzgerald, author of The Great Gatsby, and his Montgomery-born wife Zelda once rented. It displays manuscripts, p…
• National Voting Rights Museum and Institute – A grassroots museum at the foot of the Edmund Pettus Bridge, with photographs, artifacts, and first-hand accounts of the Selma voting right…
• Brown Chapel AME Church – The command center of the 1965 Selma voting rights campaign and the starting point of three marches. A bust and memorial of Martin Luther K…
• Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail – A 54-mile route along Route 80 that retraces the 1965 march. The Lowndes Interpretive Center along the way tells the story of the marchers'…
• Old Cahawba Archaeological Park – The ghost-town site of Alabama's first state capital, where ancient oaks, ruins, and an artesian well lie scattered at a river confluence…
• Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site – The Moton Field training base where America's first Black military pilots trained during World War II. The restored hangar displays a train…
• Tuskegee Institute National Historic Site – The campus of the renowned Black university founded by Booker T. Washington. Visitors can tour the George Washington Carver Museum and Wash…

Where to eat

• Chris' Famous Hot Dogs – A historic eatery on Dexter Avenue opened in 1917, famous for its hot dogs with secret chili sauce; one of Montgomery's…
• Tally-Ho Restaurant – One of the highest-rated restaurants in Selma, operating out of a 1920s log cabin and serving seafood and steaks for ov…
• Brenda's Bar-B-Que Pit – A family-run BBQ takeout window in the West Side operating since 1942, renowned for its hickory-smoked ribs and pulled…
• Martha's Place – A well-known soul food buffet restaurant in Montgomery founded by Martha Hawkins, serving a rotating selection of fried…
• Central Restaurant – A wood-fired restaurant housed in a converted 19th-century warehouse downtown, specializing in Gulf seafood and local m…
• Lannie's Bar-B-Q Spot – A 1940s family-run BBQ joint on Minter Avenue in Selma, famous for its pulled pork sandwich topped with crispy pork ski…

Itineraries

• US Southern Civil Rights Trail Tour – Trace the historic sites of the Civil Rights Movement from Atlanta through Montgomery, Selma, and Birmingham to Memphis.