Dear Friend of the National Parks,

I hope you'll consider joining NPCA experts on a remarkable journey
this October through some of the most significant sites associated
with American civil rights. Along the way, you will have a unique
opportunity to meet with NPCA partners, local historians and even some
of the faithful activists known as foot soldiers who actively played a
role in the civil rights movement of the 1960's. Learn firsthand
about NPCA's role in expanding cultural resource protections to
help preserve the story of civil rights. This travel program allows
you to experience cultural elements, such as food and music, that
defined the period.

On the Road to Freedom
Understanding Civil Rights Through Our National Parks and Heritage
Areas
October 1-8, 2021
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Come experience important contributors to African American musical
culture while being immersed in the rich, soulful history of the Delta
region. Along the way, you will have a unique opportunity to meet with
NPCA partners and some of the "foot soldiers" who actively
played a role in the civil rights movement of the 1960s. Learn
firsthand about NPCA's role in expanding cultural resource
protections to help preserve the story of civil rights.

Our program begins in Birmingham, Alabama, where we will visit the
Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument, a national park site that
NPCA helped establish in 2017. We will visit the Birmingham Civil
Rights Institute, which houses the actual jail cell door behind which
Martin Luther King, Jr. penned his famous "Letter from
Birmingham Jail." We will then stop at the historic 16th Street
Baptist Church before traveling to the future home of the new Freedom
Center, an educational hub that will focus on civil rights and other
cultural topics.

Next, we will visit Montgomery, Alabama, where we will see the former
home of Dr. Rev. Martin Luther King and the Legacy Museum, which tells
the history of racial inequality and economic injustice in the United
States. Then, we will venture to the National Memorial for Peace and
Justice, a site that explores America's history of racial
inequality and the ongoing history of lynching in America. Later in
the evening, you will explore the city at your leisure and enjoy
dinner at one of Montgomery's famed Southern-style restaurants
if you choose.

Afterward, while en route to Jackson, Mississippi, we will stop at
two National Park Service sites: the Lowndes Interpretive Center and
the Selma Interpretive Center. The Selma Interpretive Center marks the
beginning of the Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail where we
will walk across the Edmund Pettus Bridge.

In Jackson, we will visit the home of Medgar Evers, as well as the
Mississippi Civil Rights Museum. We'll stop at Farish Street,
listed on the National Register of Historic Places for being the
thriving center of African American life in Jackson during the Jim
Crow era and an economically independent Black community until the
1980s. For Civil War buffs, we will visit Vicksburg National Military
Park, where the Confederacy surrendered to Union forces in 1863. That
evening, we will be introduced to the most famous of Delta musical
traditions, the Blues.

Our program includes a day in the Mississippi Delta exploring Mound
Bayou, a town founded in 1887 by former slaves, and the town of
Sumner, where the trial of Emmett Till took place. We will end in
Memphis, where we will explore the National Civil Rights Museum at the
Lorraine Motel, as well as the world renowned Stax Museum of American
Soul Music, whose music and artist roster influenced artists such as
the Rolling Stones, the Doors and countless others.

Click here to download the full trip brochure (PDF, 5 MB).
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To learn more and reserve your spot today, contact me at 202-454-3305
or [email protected]. Thank you for your support!

See you in the parks,

Jared Dial
Travel Program Manager


NPCA | 777 6th Street, NW | Suite 700 |
Washington, DC 20001 | 800.NAT.PARK | [email protected]

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