Martin Luther King Civil Rights Heritage Tour March 29, 2010

For the tenth consecutive year the Asheville, Charlotte, Durham and Raleigh MLK Committees in collaboration with The North Carolina Martin Luther King Resource Center, are pleased to sponsor a bus trip to Atlanta, Georgia; Selma, Tuskegee, Montgomery and Birmingham, Alabama; and to Memphis, Tennessee to retrace the steps of Dr. King and other civil rights heroes. The award-winning excursion will visit historical monuments and museums in the bedrock areas of "The Movement's" epic center.

This area of the country was the setting for many history making achievements by African Americans and courageous, morally principled white citizens. The whole purpose of the tour reinforces that more of us should better understand, appreciate and acknowledge how all of this relates to the present and future.

During the trip, we will visit the birth home of Dr. King and walk along historic "Sweet Auburn Avenue" in Atlanta and the Martin Luther King Center where his tomb rests. We will relive the experience of the bravery of the people who endured "Bloody Sunday", then made the harrowing Selma to Montgomery March for voting rights. We will be better able to understand the inspiring words of Dr. King who led the March as well as get to know the unsung heroes, ordinary men and women who risked their lives to register Blacks to vote. We will relive Rosa Park's nonviolent protest in Montgomery that inspired the movement that helped open equal access to public facilities. We will also spend time in Birmingham and in Memphis we will visit the Internationally acclaimed National Civil Rights Museum and Lorrine Hotel where Dr. King was slain.

Many historians have acknowledged that the work and sacrifices of Dr. King and other pioneers of the Civil Rights Movement helped pave the way for the election of America's first African American President. Museums in Montgomery, Birmingham and Memphis are adding new attractions which will highlight and educate citizens with timelines and events which helped change the trajectory of multiracial attitudes and voting patterns nationwide

Official Website: http://www.king-raleigh.org/natlevent/detail.cfm?EVENT_ID=3058