United States Civil Rights Trail
The United States Civil Rights Trail is a heritage route in the Southern United States that shares stories from the civil rights movement at landmarks such as Black churches, schools, leaders’ homes, courthouses, and other sites tied to the 1950s and 1960s and the era of the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments.
After the Dalai Lama’s 2014 visit to the Birmingham Civil Rights District, President Obama asked the National Park Service to boost civil rights representation among UNESCO World Heritage sites. In 2016, Alabama asked for help, and a Georgia State University team led by Glenn T. Eskew identified 60 potential UNESCO sites. This work led to the Alabama Civil Rights Trail and inspired a broader U.S. Civil Rights Trail backed by state tourism departments from Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia, coordinated from Atlanta by Travel South USA.
Work began in 2017, and the CivilRightsTrail.com website launched on Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 2018. The Trail now includes more than 100 landmark sites across 15 states, with several operated by the National Park Service.
In 2017, the Obama administration designated several sites: the Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument; the Freedom Riders National Monument in Anniston, Alabama; and the Reconstruction Era National Historical Park in Beaufort County, South Carolina. That same year, the Medgar and Myrlie Evers Home in Jackson, Mississippi, was named a National Monument.
On November 5, 2019, the International Travel & Tourism Awards named the U.S. Civil Rights Trail Best Regional Destination Campaign in its first year of eligibility.
In January 2021, the Smithsonian Institution and The New York Times sponsored escorted tours, followed by international firms Abercrombie & Kent and Trafalgar Travel. Also in January 2021, Moon Publishing released Moon U.S. Civil Rights Trail, a travel guide by Deborah D. Douglas, focusing on 16 cities with history lessons and interviews. The Official United States Civil Rights Trail Book by Alabama’s tourism director, Lee Sentell, was published in June 2021 as a companion.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 13:26 (CET).