For Immediate Release: Friday, January 24, 2020
Registration is open for the 2020 Maryland Civil Rights Educational Freedom Experience. This annual historic civil-rights bus tour retraces the Freedom Trail, the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the Greensboro sit-ins, voting rights, and other significant events of the Civil Rights Movement.
The nine-day bus tour will leave Rockville on Saturday, April 18 and return Sunday, April 26. The tour will travel to Greensboro, NC; Atlanta, GA; Birmingham, Montgomery and Selma, AL; Memphis and Clinton, TN; Little Rock, AR and Jackson, MS to retrace the steps of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks and many other civil-rights heroes.
Highlights on the tour include the Birth Home Museum of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.; the new National Center for Civil and Human Rights; the Civil Rights Memorial Museum; the International Civil Rights Center and Museum; the Rosa Parks Museum; the Freedom Rides Museum; the new Legacy and Peace and Justice Museums; the National Voting Rights Museum; the famed Sixteenth Street Baptist Church; the historic Edmund Pettus Bridge; the Little Rock Central High School; Emmett Till Museum; Green McAdoo School; Alex Haley Freedom Village; Medgar Evers’ Home and the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel.
“The trip impacts everyone differently, some disembark feeling humbled and others describe feeling emotionally shaken, but everyone leaves saying that their lives have been changed in a powerful way,” said Director of Human Rights James Stowe. “This trip is for everyone, every culture, every race and ever ethnicity will be inspired by taking this journey.”
Testimonial from past participants include:
“I thought I knew the history of the civil rights movement, on this tour, I learn I have only scratched the surface “
“I have traveled to six continents but have never had such an emotional and impactful experience like I experienced on this tour.”
“I am here with my daughter and my 85-year-old mother … I wanted to share this experience with the three generations of the women of my family … so powerful … we won’t ever forget.”
The tour features special guests Joan Mulholland and Willie King who will provide personal accounts of their experiences during the civil rights movement to bring the history to life from two who witnessed and participated in the events. Mulholland is a 1960’s Freedom Rider and King transcribed Martin Luther King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.
Payment is due by March 15. Event details, including registration form, itinerary and general information is available here. Early registration is encouraged as this trip usually fills. Credit cards and checks are accepted as payment for registration.
The trip includes travel on a deluxe motor coach with Wi-Fi, hotel accommodations, multiple tour and museum admissions, some meals, snacks and more. The tour is available to County and non-county residents.
For more information, contact Beverly Marshall in the Office of Human Rights at Beverly.marshall@montgomerycountymd.gov or 240-777-8479.