Smithsonian and New York Times Market Alabama Civil Rights Tours

Travel departments within The New York Times and the Smithsonian Institute are marketing escorted tours to civil rights landmarks in Birmingham, Montgomery, Selma and Tuskegee during 2021, state tourism director Lee Sentell says. 

Groups will begin arriving as early as March with more tours in the fall, he said. Each tour is scheduled for six days. The cost for the Smithsonian’s itinerary begins at $4,795, while the newspaper’s trip starts at $5,195, with the cost covering hotel accommodations, most meals and air transfers, he added.

The newspaper says “the collective suppression of and struggle for civil rights reverberated across the United States in the 1950s and 1960s, but its loudest chorus was in the American South. With expert guidance from The New York Times, explore Alabama to witness the sites and hear the stories of those who fought and died for equal rights. Even decades on, the echoes are still heard.” 

Both the Smithsonian and New York Times tours will trace the steps of the civil rights movement through the 16th Street Baptist Church, bombed by the Ku Klux Klan in 1963, killing four young Black girls; and the Edmund Pettus Bridge, where civil rights marchers were beaten back by state and local police. Itineraries immerse guests in the history predating the civil rights movement with visits to the Legacy Museum, the National Memorial for Peace and Justice as well as Tuskegee Airmen Historic Site and Tuskegee University, Sentell said.

“The civil rights movement is an integral part of American history, and The New York Times was reporting and photographing in the thick of it. Even today, the country wrestles with what it means to be equal. Alabama in many ways represents the epicenter, with names like Rosa Parks, Selma, George Wallace and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. occupying places in history along with the firebombings and protests,” according to the Times’ promotional material.

The newspaper’s trip features a private discussion with Peggy Wallace Kennedy, daughter of former Gov. George Wallace of Alabama, who has denounced the policies of her father.

The Alabama African American Civil Rights Heritage Sites Consortium assisted the Smithsonian in planning the trip. Most of the sites are featured on the U.S. Civil Rights Trail that the Alabama Tourism Department organized in 2017, Sentell said.

In addition, National Geographic Traveler magazine encourages independent travel to the state as “the ultimate Southern adventure.” A 12-page story published in 2019 headlined “National history and family heritage connect on an Alabama road trip to sites on the U.S. Civil Rights Trail.”

Sentell said the International Tourism and Travel Awards in London in 2019 awarded the Best Destination Marketing Campaign Award to the Alabama tourism department and Birmingham ad agency Luckie and Company for their Civil Rights Trail campaign.

Contact: Lee Sentell at 334-328-2623