Stories

Civil rights tourism in the Deep South

The F.W. Woolworth's lunch counter, as seen at the International Civil Rights Center & Museum in Greensboro, N.C., part of the new U.S. Civil Rights Trail.
The F.W. Woolworth's lunch counter, as seen at the International Civil Rights Center & Museum in Greensboro, N.C., part of the new U.S. Civil Rights Trail. Photo: Skip Foreman / AP

"Southern states that once fought to maintain racial segregation are now banding together to promote civil rights tourism at sites including the building where the Confederacy was born and the motel where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. died," AP's Jay Reeves writes from Birmingham, Ala.:

  • "Fourteen states stretching from Kansas to Delaware, including all of the Deep South, are joining to promote the U.S. Civil Rights Trail, which will highlight about 130 sites linked to the modern civil rights movement. The joint effort is being unveiled as part of the MLK holiday weekend."
  • "Landmarks ... include churches, courthouses, schools, businesses and other sites that played a role in the civil rights movement in the 1950s and '60s, plus memorials and museums that document the period."
  • "The trail includes locations in Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia."
  • "It also features the District of Columbia, with attractions including the Lincoln Memorial, the National Museum of African American History and Culture, and the U.S. Supreme Court building."
Civil rights