We support equity for all and specifically, the Black Lives Matter movement. We compiled this list of civil rights museums with virtual resources for those interested in learning more about the long history of systemic racism in the United States.
The United States Civil Right Trail has an online gallery of sites and settings across 14 states that have contributed to the nation’s civil rights narrative. Click on each picture to learn the significance of the site.
The Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture located in Washington, D.C. recently released a “Talking
About Race” Web Portal which provides participants with tools and
guidance to understand and inspire conversation on the issues of Race,
Racism, and Racial Identity. The Museum also offers a Digital
Resource Guide to explore, learn and engage with the museum.
The Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Park is
located in Atlanta, Georgia. The park consists of several buildings
including his boyhood home, and Ebenezer
Baptist Church where King was baptized and where he and his father were
pastors. The National Park Service offers a guided virtual tour of the
birth home of Martin Luther King, Jr., click here to
learn what Dr. King's life was like as a young boy.
The Birmingham Civil Rights Institute in
downtown Birmingham, AL is located in the heart of one of the most
violent civil rights battlegrounds. Martin Luther King, Jr. called
Birmingham the most segregated city in the country and he was jailed
here for leading civil rights demonstrations. The museum is currently
closed due to COVID-19, but they are offering 25 lesson plans for
K-12 students about the Civil Rights Movement online.
On April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King Jr., was shot
and killed while standing on the balcony at the Lorraine Hotel
in Memphis, TN. After King’s death the hotel went into decline
and eventually closed. In 1991 the site reopened
and became the National Civil Rights Museum. During its COVID closing the museum is offering virtual programs as well as its Small
But Mighty Storytime online. Geared towards families and children,
Small but Mighty Storytime focuses on peacemaking, kindness, diversity,
and creating positive social change.
The Rosa Parks Museum is
located at Troy University in Alabama. Several items related to her
famous protest of
bus segregation in Montgomery can be found here, including her arrest
records and fingerprints, 1950’s-era city bus, and a restored 1955
station wagon used to transport protestors. For a brief history of her
famous protest and a tour of the museum, click here.
In May of 1961, Freedom Riders stepped off a bus at
the Montgomery, Alabama bus station with a goal to help end racial
segregation in public transportation. These Freedom Riders were male and
female, black and white, and
none of them older than 22. They prepared to meet violence with
non-violence, many prepared wills and farewell letters. The Freedom Rides Museum in
Montgomery tells their story. During the museum's temporary closing you
can find information about the Freedom Riders and live educational
events on their Facebook
page.
The Mississippi Civil Rights Museum takes
a look at the history of racial violence in the state including the
1955 lynching of Emmett Till,
Medger Evers who established the office of the NAACP in Jackson and
was assassinated in his own driveway and the abduction and murder of
three civil rights workers in 1964. Check out this virtual tour of the museum:
The Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights whose mission
is to teach the history of the Holocaust and advance human rights
and combat prejudice, hatred and indifference has a special online
exhibit right now, The
Fight for Civil Rights in the South. The exhibit covers
two prestigious photography exhibitions, the iconic march from Selma to
Montgomery in 1965, including the moment Martin Luther King, Jr. led
more than 2,000 marchers across the Edmund Pettus Bridge
and the peaceful protest in Anniston, Alabama in 1961 that turned
violent with the burning of the Freedom Riders Bus.