Civil Rights Memorial

You are looking at the Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery, Alabama. This memorial honors 40 Americans who were killed during the civil rights movement.

Segration

After the American Civil War, blacks in the South were free. But many still did not treat them as equal. They were denied many of the rights other white citizens had. At the same time, segregation became a way of life. Segregation is the separation of people because of race, religion, or gender. African Americans were often segregated from white people. They could not go to school with whites. They could not eat at white lunch counters. They couldn't even sit beside white people on a bus. 

Montgomery, Alabama

African Americans were unhappy that they were not being treated equally. For several years, African Americans fought against this unfair treatment. Montgomery was home to one of the important milestones in the struggle to achieve racial equality. 

Dr. Martin Luther King

In 1955, a minister named Martin Luther King Jr. led a protest against segregation on buses. Before 1955, African Americans could not sit at the front of the bus and had to stand if a white person wanted their seat. African Americans in Montgomery refused to ride the buses until they were treated the same as whites.

Montgomery Bus Boycott

Most African Americans back then did not have cars. They needed the bus to get to their jobs. But the people of Montgomery chose to walk to work every day for a year rather than ride on a segregated bus. Thanks to all the people who protested using the buses of Montgomery, bus segregation was finally ended here.

Thank you for traveling with me.

I asked you to keep your eyes, ears, and minds wide open on this journey. Now I'll tell you why. 

I wanted you to use your eyes to see the different ways in which the land is used in the Southeast. In Everglades National Park you saw land that people are trying to protect. But, in Appalachia, you saw a mountain being mined for coal. 

I wanted you to use your ears to hear some of the sounds of the Southeast. You heard the sounds of nature—even the roar of a hurricane. You also listened to the music of this region, like bluegrass and jazz. 

Finally, I wanted you to learn how the Southeast has changed over time. Slavery and segregation are part of this region's past—but not its future. As my grandma likes to say, “Times have changed, and they've changed for the better.”