The March: Civil War to Civil Rights

Almost all ACTS Education Program tours doing The March will include:​

 

• Cotton Museum
• Mississippi Riverboat Cruise
• National Civil Rights Museum
• Selma Interpretive Center
• Pettus Bridge
• 16th Street Baptist Church
• Rosa Parks Museum
• Tuskeegee
• MLK Jr. National Historic Site
• Stone Mountain - Optional addition

The Deep South boasts a moderate climate year-round, while providing a distinct and rich experience each season. Summers are warm, autumns brisk and sunny, winters mild, and spring is blooming with dogwoods and azaleas. There is moderate rainfall each year and varying snowfall from light in the mountains to virtually none in other regions. Spring travelers can expect temperatures in the range of 65-80° F.

The Deep South usually includes Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, and South Carolina. Occasionally, parts of adjoining states are included - like sections of East Texas, the delta areas of Arkansas and Tennessee, and parts of Florida such as the Panhandle and the north-central part of the state.

• Gazing at the balcony at the Lorraine Hotel in Memphis where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated.

• Floating on a riverboat down the Mighty Mississippi.

• Walking across the Edmund Pettus Bridge.

• Traveling in the Cleveland Avenue Time Machine at the Rosa Parks Museum.

• Standing on the battefields and imagining the battles of Shiloh and Kennesaw Mountain.

WATCH

A video highlighting the events leading up to and during the march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. 

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READ

Letter From a Birmingham Jail - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

April 16, 1963  

LISTEN​
Nicole C. Mullen sings a song called "Black Light." It recalls and celebrates the triumphs of the civil rights movement, and her unifying lyrics encourage all of us to stand on the shoulders of giants and shine as lights in a dark world and to celebrate each others differences and sameness.  You can watch the YouTube video here, and read the lyrics here.

EAT​

A traditional Southern meal would have pan-fried chicken, field peas, greens (such as collard greens, mustard greens, or turnip greens), mashed potatoes, cornbread, sweet tea, and a dessert that is usually a pie (sweet potato, shoofly, pecan, and peach are traditional southern pies). If you've never had southern grits - you really should try them as well.

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DRINK​

A lot of water. It can be hot and humid during your tour. Don't forget to try that southern sweet tea.

Struggle

• Children and youth were very involved in the Civil Rights movement.
   
• The Sunday School lesson at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham on September 15, 1963 just prior to a bomb going off that would kill four little girls was “A Love that Forgives.” The sermon (which was never preached) was to be based on Luke 23:34: “Then Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.’”
   
• On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a segregated bus for white passengers.  She didn’t think the laws were fair. She said that she was “tired” of unfair treatment.  Her act of peaceful civil disobedience was the spark that ignited the Civil Rights Movement.

• Memphis
• Birmingham
• Montgomery
• Tuskegee
• Atlanta