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Montgomery is the capital of Alabama, set on a bend of the Alabama River in the rich farmland of the state's Black Belt. The city was formed in 1819 from two rival towns and grew into a wealthy cotton port, and in 1861 delegates met here to form the Confederate States of America, making Montgomery the first Confederate capital. Nearly a century later, the city became the birthplace of the modern civil rights movement.
In December 1955 Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat on Montgomery's Cleveland Avenue, sparking the 381-day Montgomery Bus Boycott led by a young pastor named Martin Luther King Jr., whose Dexter Avenue church stands just below the Capitol. In 1965 the Selma to Montgomery marchers arrived at the Capitol steps, leading to the Voting Rights Act. Today Montgomery has about 195,000 residents, and its civil rights sites are among the most important places in American history.
The Equal Justice Initiative's Legacy Museum and the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, which honors more than 4,400 victims of racial terror lynchings, are powerful and moving places to visit. The Rosa Parks Museum, the Dexter Parsonage Museum, the Freedom Rides Museum and the Civil Rights Memorial Center continue the story. Beyond history, visitors can stroll the riverfront at Riverfront Park and catch a Montgomery Biscuits baseball game at a ballpark built into a historic rail depot, see the Alabama Shakespeare Festival and the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts in Blount Cultural Park, and tour the F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald Museum.
A memorial opened in 2018 to the victims of racial terror lynching in the US, with more than 800 steel monuments, one for each county where lynchings took place, engraved with victims' names. It is a moving and quiet site. Tickets are shared with the Legacy Museum; allow at least an hour.
Run by the Southern Poverty Law Center, this center sits beside the Civil Rights Memorial, a black granite fountain designed by Maya Lin with the names of 41 people killed during the movement. Inside, exhibits tell their stories and visitors may add their names to the Wall of Tolerance.
The former Greyhound Bus Station where Freedom Riders were attacked by a mob in 1961, now a museum with exhibits and outdoor panels about the riders who challenged segregation on interstate buses. It is small, so plan about 45 minutes, and check the limited opening days first.
A downtown historic village of about 50 restored 19th and early 20th century buildings, including a dogtrot house, a one-room schoolhouse, a cotton gin, a church and shotgun houses, showing everyday life in central Alabama. Pick up a self-guided tour map at the Lucas Tavern visitor center.
Created by the Equal Justice Initiative, this museum traces the history of slavery, lynching, segregation and mass incarceration in the US through art, films, documents and personal stories. It is set near the site of a former warehouse where enslaved people were held. Plan two to three hours.
A Troy University museum at the corner where Rosa Parks was arrested in 1955 for refusing to give up her bus seat. Exhibits include a recreated bus scene, a short film and stories of the Montgomery Bus Boycott. A children's wing explains the history for younger visitors.
The only museum dedicated to the writer F. Scott Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda, a Montgomery native, set in the house they rented in 1931 and 1932. Exhibits include Zelda's paintings, letters and first editions. The upstairs apartments are available for overnight stays.
The church where Martin Luther King Jr. was pastor from 1954 to 1960 and helped organize the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Guided tours show the sanctuary and a mural of King's life in the basement. It stands a block from the Alabama State Capitol; tours must be booked in advance.
A Greek Revival capitol where Jefferson Davis took office as Confederate president in 1861, and where the 1965 Selma to Montgomery march ended. Free self-guided and guided tours show the restored chambers and the spiral staircases. A bronze star marks the spot where Davis stood.
Montgomery's riverfront on the Alabama River, with an amphitheater, a walking path, the Harriott II riverboat dinner cruises and Riverwalk Stadium, home of the Montgomery Biscuits baseball team, in a converted railroad depot. It is a pleasant evening walk from the downtown hotels.
One of the largest Shakespeare festivals in the world, staged in a modern theater complex in the Blount Cultural Park, with classics, new plays and musicals. The surrounding park has lakes and walking paths, and the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts sits on the same grounds.
A zoo laid out by continent with elephants, giraffes, tigers, black bears and other animals, plus the Mann Wildlife Learning Museum next door showing North American wildlife. A train ride and sky lift give different views. Morning visits are best in summer heat.
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