Montgomery: Experience Civil Rights History and Museums

Montgomery County’s visitor attractions include historic sites, museums, and outdoor recreation. Civil rights history is a prominent focus, alongside art, insights into past ways of working, wildlife, and local products. The variety of themes offers different ways to explore Montgomery and its history.

Civil Rights History and Memorial Sites

The Rosa Parks Museum is located in the city of Montgomery, Alabama, at the site of Rosa Parks’s arrest. It is the only museum in the nation dedicated to her. Exhibits include Rosa Parks’s original fingerprint arrest record, a 1950s Montgomery city bus, and a restored 1955 Studebaker used to transport protesters. The museum also offers educational programs, research resources, and cultural events.

Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church and the historic Parsonage Museum are also among the places where the Montgomery Bus Boycott was planned. The National Memorial for Peace and Justice is dedicated to the legacy of Black Americans who were enslaved, terrorized by lynching, humiliated by racial segregation, and deemed guilty and dangerous. It is the first comprehensive national memorial dedicated to this legacy.

The Freedom Monument Sculpture Park covers 17 acres and offers views of the Alabama River. A 15-minute boat ride on the Alabama River leads to the Freedom Monument Sculpture Park; check before your trip whether this ride is currently offered.

Museums, Art, and Ways of Life in the Past

Most visitors spend three to five hours at the Legacy Museum. Free shuttle buses connect the Legacy Sites every 15 minutes. Check the schedule before your visit if you plan to use the shuttle.

The Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts has more than 4,000 works of art, mostly by American artists from the 18th to the 21st century. Old Alabama Town’s Working Block offers a different perspective on the history of central Alabama: it shows how people worked and produced goods there in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Old Alabama Town’s historic character also includes the Ordeman-Shaw House. Its furnishings reflect the period when the Mitchell family lived there in the late 1850s. The house opened for public tours in 1971; check the current tour days before your visit.

Wildlife and Local Products

The Montgomery Zoo is a 42-acre zoological facility with animals from Africa, Asia, Australia, and North and South America. The Mann Wildlife Learning Museum complements this focus with one of the largest collections of preserved North American wildlife, artifacts, and fossils in the southeastern United States.

Those interested in regional products can find seasonal, locally grown fruits and vegetables, as well as handmade goods, preserves, baked goods, plants, and teas at the Montgomery Curb Market. This selection is listed in a city description dated September 10, 2021; the vendor mix may change. Check what is currently available before your visit.

Discover more destinations: Montgomery, Hope Hull, Madison, Lauderdale County, Marengo County, Dallas County, Lee and Colbert County.

View the main travel overview: Alabama.