History

The Alabama Tourism Department takes you behind the scenes of the Civil Rights Movement with the new Alabama Civil Rights Trail Podcast. This three-part series dives deeper into the people, places and events that played a role in the movement and establishes their relevance to present-day activism. 

The series includes conversations with professors, historians and civil rights activists, including Bernard LaFayette Jr., Rev. Arthur Price Jr., Sarah Collins Rudolph, Betty Strong Boynton and Wanda Battle. Each episode allows the listener to hear real stories from real people who served on the frontlines of the movement as well as who  played a role in some of the most pivotal moments in history. 

This podcast series tells the stories of foot soldiers in such a way that they will remain on the mind of the listener and will be shared for generations to come. Listeners not only will hear these stories, but they also will hear from historians and other experts who can put these stories and events into context, and remind us why events that happened decades ago remain relevant in today’s world. 

Episode one examines the story of  the Freedom Riders, a group of college students who were prepared to risk it all to end segregation on public transportation by riding Greyhound buses through...