Unexpected US History Trips ~ First Stop Alabama
 In early 1965, Martin Luther King Jr. began leading voting rights demonstrations that culminated in the 54-mile historic march from Selma, Ala., to the state capital of Montgomery. Today, on the Selma to Montgomery March Byway visitors can follow the footsteps of the civil rights marchers by car, beginning in Selma at the Brown Chapel (410 Martin Luther King Street; 334-874-7897; visits by appointment), which was the headquarters of the voting rights movement, and continuing on to the National Voting Rights Museum and Institute (1012 Water Avenue, Selma; 334-418-0800; www.nvrm.org).
The museum is at the foot of the Edmund Pettus Bridge, where the first Selma march was stopped on “Bloody Sunday,” March 7, 1965, by law enforcement officers who unleashed tear gas and billy clubs on protesters.
The second march began two days later, led by the Rev. Dr. King, who led 2,000 people from Selma to the bridge, where he stopped to pray. The third and final march took place on March 21, 1965, this time federally sanctioned and with the protection of hundreds of federal agents and National Guardsmen ordered by President Lyndon B. Johnson.
Drivers on the historic byway can stop at the city of St. Jude, where the marchers camped on an athletic field in the historic district the night before reaching the capital; that same evening, Harry Belafonte, Tony Bennett and Sammy Davis Jr. performed at a rally there. In Montgomery, on the steps of the Alabama State Capitol Building (600 Dexter Avenue), Dr. King delivered his “How Long, Not Long” speech to a crowd of 30,000. Less than five months later, the groundbreaking 1965 Voting Rights Act was signed into law by President Johnson.
Call 281-480-1988 / Travel Leaders/Future Travel
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