Editor’s note: the American Deep South is one part of the U.S. I’ve not done justice to in my own travels. When it comes to Alabama, I’ve merely visited Huntsville, not making it any further into the state. But with so much history, as writer Sam Spector teaches us here, it is definitely a place I endeavor to see. For more of Sam’s amazing writing, click here to visit his index page.
I often write about places that people would perhaps not have at the top of their travel destinations that turn out to be some of my favorite spots in the world. Having been to 64 countries, I am often asked which is my favorite? I respond that everywhere is different and it is impossible to pick just one place; some places have my favorite food, others the best history, etc… I then get asked, “Where had the best food?” “Japan or Thailand, both are good, Japan’s fine dining and Thailand’s street food.” “Nicest people?” “Oh, that was probably in Costa Rica.” Yet, the answer I give that shocks the most people is: “Of all the places you have been, where has the best beaches?” I smile and say, “Probably the Gulf Coast of Alabama.”
Most Americans do not have Alabama as a top travel destination, picking nearby Florida instead, but Alabama has so much to see and do. With four approximately equivalently large cities at around 200,000 people apiece (Huntsville, Montgomery, Birmingham, and Mobile), there is in every part of the state something to see and do. Whether you are in the northern tip of the state at Huntsville’s U.S. Space and Rocket Center Museum with its life-sized replicas of space shuttles or the southern coast on the white sand beaches of Gulf Shores with dolphins frolicking just offshore, Alabama is full of activity. The state is also full of culinary delights from classic Southern cuisine like fried green tomatoes to places like Dreamland Bar-B-Que, where the servers throw rolls at you, offer fried vegetables out of baskets, and give you an appetizer of a loaf of sliced white bread served with barbeque sauce for dipping. Even the gas stations in Alabama and throughout the south are worth visiting if they are a Buc’ees, which is what happens when a gas station meets Target and throws in a top-of-the-line candy store and butcher shop.
However, the real treat in Alabama is doing a Civil Rights tour in the heart of the state between Montgomery and Birmingham. It may be worthwhile to begin your trip in Montgomery, the state capital, which has a charming downtown and beautiful residential neighborhoods. It was in this town that the Civil Rights Movement really began when on December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat when asked to do so in order to allow white passengers to sit. Her arrest sparked a boycott of the buses by Montgomery’s black population for over a year that led to daily losses of $3000 ($35,000 in today’s dollars) to the bus company with organizers demanding to be treated with courtesy, the hiring of black bus drivers, and a black section of the bus where black riders could sit without having to give up their seats to white people. In downtown Montgomery there is a statue of Rosa Parks where she got onto the bus, which is located across the street from Court Square. During the days of slavery, Montgomery was the largest center in the country for the buying and selling of enslaved people and Court Square was where the auctions and sales would take place. A few blocks up the road is where Rosa Parks was arrested, and that site today is the home of the Rosa Parks Museum and Library. Inside this museum, you will read about the life of Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott. The museum also goes into detail of the Civil Rights Movement, how Martin Luther King became involved as the local pastor of the Dexter Avenue Church (which you can still visit in downtown). At the museum, there is a replica of the bus where Parks was arrested, showing a movie from the windows of the bus reenacting her arrest, as well as one of the 1956 station wagons that was used by churches to arrange carpools for black people as an alternative to the buses.
There are also numerous sites in the city owned by the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI), an organization dedicated to educating people about our nation’s racist history and preventing racism in the future. The most moving site might by the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, dedicated to remembering the black victims of lynching in America. At this striking display, there are 805 rectangular steel boxes, one for each county in the country where a black person was lynched between 1877 and 1950, which hang from a ceiling and bear the names and dates of those lynched in those counties. Throughout the monument there are signs that mention specific incidences of lynching, such as twelve men who complained about their low wages, a man who passed a note to a white woman, seven men who drank from a white man’s well, and a 17-year-old boy who was lynched in Texas by a mob of 10,000 people. At the end of the memorial, the 805 boxes are again displayed, but laid down to appear as coffins. The black men, women, and children who were victims of lynching must have suffered the most horrific, terrifying, and painful deaths imaginable, and it was assumed by the murderers, who largely went unpunished, that these individuals would never be remembered. It should be the duty of every American to visit this place and remember those souls.
Two other EJI sites that should be visited are the Legacy Museum and the Freedom Monument Park. The Legacy Museum chronicles the story of millions of African people who were kidnapped and transported to the Americas, the history of slavery in our country, the racism that developed after the Civil War, and the injustices that still occur today against black Americans in the justice system. The Freedom Monument Sculpture Park was just opened in March 2024. It is purposefully located in between the Alabama River and the train tracks, two places from which enslaved people were transported to the faraway plantations to which they were sold, tearing families apart. The sculptures are moving, powerful, and beautiful, telling the story of slavery, including having replica cabins where enslaved people were housed. At the end of the trail there is a massive orange monument that has listed thousands of surnames, containing each last name that an enslaved person had at the end of the Civil War. Staff on hand will help visitors find their family name. The park also displays actual laws in different states during slavery, such as one that says that a slave owner who accidentally kills a slave by beating him in correcting improper behavior will not be charged with a crime, yet if an enslaved person hits a white person and draws blood, he shall be put to death. You will also read about how under Alabama law, all black people in the state were enslaved, and how in nearby states it was common practice for slave traders to kidnap free black people and take them to Alabama and traffic them as slaves.
At each of these museums and memorials, plan to spend an hour and a half to two hours. While many, like me, journey to Montgomery to learn about the Civil Rights Movement, there are many who pilgrimage to the “Heart of Dixie” and the “Cradle of the Confederacy” to glamorize the Confederacy. It was on the steps of the capitol building that the racist governor George Wallace, with Confederate flags behind him, declared in 1963, “In the name of the greatest people that have ever trod this earth, I draw the line in the dust and toss the gauntlet before the feet of tyranny, and I say segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever.” It is directly across the street from the capitol that many pay homage at the First White House of the Confederacy, where Confederate President Jefferson Davis lived at the beginning of the Civil War.
From Montgomery, drive to Selma, approximately 50 minutes to the west. It was on this road that the five-day March from Selma to Montgomery took place. Along the way, you may spot a memorial to Viola Liuzzo, a white Civil Rights activist who was murdered by the Ku Klux Klan at the end of the march. Upon arrival in Selma, the main site is the Edmund Pettus Bridge, named for the man who served as Alabama’s United States Senator, a brigadier general for the Confederacy and a Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan. It was on this bridge that Bloody Sunday occurred, where on live national television black activists protesting the voter suppression against black people, including protest leader and future Congressman John Lewis, were ruthlessly beaten by Alabama State Troopers as white spectators cheered. For millions of Americans watching the brutality take place, this changed their hearts and minds and was a turning point in the Civil Rights Movement. This town became the symbol for voting rights for black Americans in the United States. Walking across the Edmund Pettus Bridge is one of the most powerful and emotional experiences that one can have in our country. As this event took place less than 60 years ago, elderly black people in the town still remember well what they experienced that day in their town. Today, you will see that Selma is horribly depressed; there are blocks of boarded up buildings and hundreds of black people still living impoverished in the historic George Washington Carver housing project. To make matters worse, there is still significant damage from a tornado that occurred last year. Local residents told me that they believe that Selma might be the poorest and most underserved community in Alabama and that this might be retribution for the town’s role in the Civil Rights Movement.
Finally, from Selma, about an hour and a half north is Alabama’s most prominent city, Birmingham, another center of the Civil Rights Movement. Go to Kelly Ingram Park, where there are numerous statues showing figures and moments from the Civil Rights Movement from Dr. King to the four young girls murdered in the Birmingham church bombing, to the infamous image of a black teenager having a police dog maul him. Across the street from the park is the 16th Street Baptist Church, where on September 15, 1963 dynamite, which the police had been warned about ahead of time, was detonated by white supremacists, killing four young girls attending church that day – another turning point in the hearts and minds of Americans throughout our country. Across from the church is the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, a place for learning about the movement.
Alabama is a truly beautiful state with an incredibly complex and important history. It is important for us to understand our nation’s history and the impact that our history has on us, and especially black Americans today. While some look down upon Alabama for its racist history, it is equally, if not more, important to remember that it was the black people of Alabama who stood up and changed not just our country, but the world. As a result, it should be a must for every person and student in our nation to visit Alabama. In this state, you will find great beaches, thought provoking museums, rich history, delicious cuisine, and generous hospitality – and who knows? With all the ingredients for a top trip, Alabama might become one of your favorite places in the country, if not the world to visit.
Like it? Pin it!
