Take the Kids to Montgomery, Alabama, Next Year for the 60th Anniversary of Voting Rights Marches

What better way to educate the family on the history of the country’s civil rights movement than with a trip to Montgomery, Alabama, the birthplace of the entire movement? Better yet, this historic city honors the 60^th anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery Voting Rights Marches next spring, and there’s many places to visit to learn about these pivotal moments.

Rosa Parks Museum © Experience Montgomery

Montgomery is home to many U.S. civil rights monuments and landmarks. The Rosa Parks Museum features information, exhibitions and artifacts from the 1955 Montgomery bus boycott. Families are also invited to visit Freedom Rides Museum, which sits on the site of the former Greyhound Bus station where participants in the civil rights movement were attacked in 1961, sparking a nationwide response in support of the civil rights protesters.

© Experience Montgomery

Other important sites in the city include Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church, which played a crucial role in the civil rights movement as it’s where Martin Luther King Jr. helped organize the Montgomery bus boycott.

Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church © Experience Montgomery

And don’t forget to stroll through Freedom Monument Sculpture Park, a space honoring the lives and memories of the 10 million Black people enslaved in America.

For more active families, the city hosts two cycling events in honor of the anniversary: 60^th Anniversary Selma to Montgomery Bike Ride on Feb. 22 and the annual Selma to Montgomery Relay and Bike Ride on March 15. Both races span the same 51-mile route that Americans once marched to fight for their 15^th Amendment rights.