Civil Rights Gospel

Estimated Tour Pricing Inclusions: 6 nights’ accommodation; 7 breakfasts; 3 lunches; 4 dinners; admissions, entrance, and guide fees as stated in the itinerary, including taxes, and gratuity. Except gratuity for guide fees is not included on adult tours unless otherwise requested.

• National Center for Civil & Human Rights
• CNN Atlanta Studio
• Civil Rights Tour of Atlanta
• Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historical Park
• Historic Ebenezer Baptist Church
• Ralph Abernathy’s West Hunter Street Church
• Guided Tour of the 16th Street Baptist Church
• Civil Rights Institute
• National Memorial for Peace & Justice
• Rosa Parks Museum
• Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church
• Freedom Rides Museum
• Dexter Parsonage Museum
• Civil Rights Memorial Center
• Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail
• Voting Rights Museum & Institute
• Pettus Bridge
• Downtown Tupelo
• Elvis Presley Museum
• National Civil Rights Museum
• Slave Haven Underground Railroad Museum
• Graceland Mansion Audio-Guided Tour
• Elvis Presley’s Memphis
• Elvis’ Two Custom Airplanes
• Presley Motor Car Museum
• Memphis Music Hall of Fame
• Sun Studio
• Rock n’ Soul Museum
• Stax Museum
• The Peabody

• Arrive in Atlanta, Georgia, and start your tour with a visit to the CNN Atlanta Studio.
• Enjoy lunch on own in the food court, which offers a variety of dining experiences, from fast and casual to full-service sit down restaurants.
• Visit the National Center for Civil and Human Rights, a museum dedicated to the achievements of both the civil rights movement in the U.S. and the broader worldwide human rights movement.
• Depart and check-in to your local hotel. Enjoy a Kickback Reception with a variety of food and beverages and leisure time at the hotel this evening.  (Meals: Kickback Reception Dinner)

• Enjoy breakfast at the hotel prior to checking out.
• Meet your GUIDE at the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historical Park and Journey on a Civil Rights Tour of Atlanta where you’ll visit such sites as: the tombs of Dr. King and his wife, Coretta Scott King; the famous Rush Memorial Church and the Atlanta Student Movement; the graves at South-View Cemetery of Daddy King & John Wesley Dobbs; the house Dr. King lived in at the time of his assassination and where Coretta raised their four children; Dr. King's birth home; and the Historic Ebenezer Baptist Church where Martin Luther King, Jr. was baptized, and both he, and Daddy King, preached. There will be a chance to stand in front of the crypt of MLK & Coretta Scott King.
• See Paschal’s Restaurant, where, in the front dining room, politicos helped elect Atlanta’s first black mayor, Maynard Jackson. Other sites include: Ralph Abernathy’s West Hunter Street Church; the mural of John Lewis on Auburn Ave.; the office on Auburn Avenue where MLK, Abernathy,  Andrew Young, and Hosea Williams met to make the decisions which would ultimately change the world; Edgewood Avenue-Sweet Auburn Market; State Capitol and City Hall; King Memorial; SCLC & SNCC Freedom House; Morehouse College; historic Hunter Street; (MLK now) and Magnolia Ballroom.
• Enjoy lunch on own while touring. Take a Guided Tour of the 16^th Street Baptist Church, the site of a supremacist terrorism bombing before Sunday morning services on September 15, 1963, at the predominantly black congregation.
• Visit the Civil Rights Institute, a large interpretive museum and research center  depicting the struggles of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and 1960s.
• Depart for Montgomery, Alabama, where you’ll enjoy dinner included at a Southern soul food eatery featuring an all-you-can-eat buffet with rotating entrees & sides. Depart and check-in to your hotel for the evening. (Meals: B, D)

• Enjoy breakfast at the hotel prior to checking out.
• Depart with your GUIDE and visit the National Memorial for Peace & Justice, which commemorates the victims of lynching in the U.S. It is intended to acknowledge past racial terrorism and advocate for social justice in America.
• Visit the Rosa Parks Museum on the Troy University satellite campus. See exhibits and artifacts from the 1955 Montgomery bus boycott.
• Visit Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church, founded in 1877 in a slave trader’s pen on what was Market Street. In 1887, the first registration of students for Alabama State University (then the Normal School for Colored Students) was held in the lower unit of the church. Over the years, it served the community using its facilities as a meeting place for many civic, educational, and religious groups. Much of Montgomery’s early civil rights activity–most famously the 1956 Bus Boycott–was directed by Dr. King from his office in the lower unit of the church.  In 1978, the name was changed to Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church, in memory of its 20th pastor, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who led the congregation from 1954 to 1960.
• Visit the Freedom Rides Museum, formerly the Montgomery Greyhound Bus Station, site of a violent attack on participants in the 1961 Freedom Ride during the Civil Rights Movement. Tour the Alabama State Capitol Grounds, which include the historic building with offices of the state governor and executive branch, plus a gift shop.
• See Dexter Parsonage Museum, where Martin Luther King, Jr. lived in the 1950s.
• Visit the Civil Rights Memorial Center, which honors 41 people who were killed in the struggle for equal and integrated treatment of all people, regardless of race, during the 1954-1968 civil rights movement in the U.S. It is sponsored by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Depart for Selma with a boxed lunch.
• Stop at Lowndes Interpretive Center, which serves as a repository of information for the unfortunate, yet significant, events which occurred in Lowndes County during the Selma to Montgomery March. Learn about the Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail. On August 6, 1965, President Lyndon Johnson signed, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which extended equal voting rights for African Americans. As both White and Black non-violent supporters led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. fought for the right to vote in Central  Alabama, today, you can trace their march toward freedom on the 54-mile trail and connect with their history.
• Visit the Voting Rights Museum & Institute, the cornerstone of the contemporary struggle for voting rights and human dignity located at the foot of the famous Pettus Bridge.
• See Brown Chapel AME Church, a starting point for the Selma to Montgomery marches in 1965, and meeting place and offices of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) which played a major role in the events that led to the adoption of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
• Enjoy dinner included at a local favorite this evening. Depart and check-in to your local area hotel. (Meals: B, D)

• Enjoy breakfast at the hotel prior to checking out. Depart and walk across Pettus Bridge, site of the brutal bloody Sunday beatings of civil rights marchers during the first march for voting rights. It is named after Edmund Pettus, a Confederate Brigadier General, U.S. Senator, and grand wizard of the Alabama Klu Klux Klan.
• Visit the National Civil Rights Trail Selma Interpretive Center, located at the foot of the Pettus Bridge, marking the beginning of the Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail.
• Depart to Tupelo with a lunch on own stop on the way. Visit downtown Tupelo and the Hardware Store for unique Elvis souvenirs and enjoy lunch in a “Dive”.  Afterwards, enjoy a milkshake served at Elvis’s favorite Drive-In.
• Continue to the birthplace of Elvis Presley and visit the Elvis Presley Museum. Completely renovated in 2006, the state-of-the-art museum displays new exhibits containing Tupelo artifacts, large photo-murals, and graphics and audiovisual presentations which focus on Elvis, his childhood, and his first music.
• Visit the famous  Elvis Presley Memorial Chapel. Elvis dreamed of having a “place of meditation” at the Elvis Presley Birthplace Park. Before his death, he shared that dream with friend Janelle McComb who envisioned adding a chapel to the Park. Dedicated in 1979, the chapel is now a popular attraction and offers a time for meditation and a venue for weddings and special services.
• Depart for Memphis, Tennessee, and enjoy dinner included at a BBQ restaurant. Check-in to your hotel. (Meals: B, D)

• Enjoy breakfast at the hotel before visiting the National Civil Rights Museum, located at the original Lorraine Motel, site of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s 1968 assassination. This award-winning museum traces the history of the American Civil Rights Movement and honors its leaders through interactive displays, artifacts, hands-on exhibits, and audiovisual programs. The recent $11M expansion involves the renovation of the Young Morrow building where the fatal shot was fired. "Exploring the Legacy" brings the history that followed King's assassination into the tour.
• Enjoy lunch included today and feast on a delicious Southern home-made BBQ buffet.
• Visit the Slave Haven Underground Railroad Museum, a 19^th-century home once part of the Underground Railroad featuring tunnels, trap doors, and artifacts.
• Depart and visit the Withers Collection Museum & Gallery, a charming museum holding historically important photos honoring civil rights and black history. Enjoy dinner and entertainment on own along exciting Beale Street and then return to the hotel for the evening at your leisure. (Meals: B, L)

• Enjoy breakfast at the hotel. Depart for Graceland! Your admission includes: Graceland Mansion Audio-Guided Tour with New Orientation Film, access to Elvis Presley’s Memphis, Elvis’ Two Custom Airplanes, Presley Motor Car Museum, Elvis: The Entertainer Career Showcase Museum, & Elvis Discovery Exhibits.
• Enjoy lunch on own while visiting then continue exploring Memphis.
• Visit the Stax Museum of American Soul Music. What began as a tiny record store in an old movie theater at the corner of McLemore Avenue and College Street in Memphis, grew to become one of the most important music recording studios in the world. When the modest Capitol Theater in the heart of Soulsville, USA, was transformed into Stax Records in 1959, it began launching the careers of unknowns who would become icons, cranking out a massive catalog of smash soul hits. On its many and varied labels, Stax Records also recorded such legends as: Big Star, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Moms Mabley, and the Grammy-winning comedic genius Richard Pryor.
• Depart for the Edge Motor Museum, Memphis' only car museum. Visit the exhibit, "American Speed" and experience the story of the American sports car.
• Enjoy dinner included at a family-owned restaurant serving Italian food and famous BBQ pizza. It was one of Elvis’s favorite restaurants. Return to hotel. (Meals: B, D)

• Enjoy breakfast at the hotel prior to checking out.
• Visit the Memphis Music Hall of Fame, which honors Memphis musicians for their lifetime achievements in music. The induction ceremony and concert is held each year in Memphis.
• Visit the legendary Sun Studio, the birthplace of Rock N Roll.
• Visit the Rock n’ Soul Museum, hear the story of the musical pioneers who overcame racial and socio-economic obstacles to create the music that changed the cultural complexion of the world.
• Enjoy lunch on own along Beale Street before saying farewell to Memphis and departing for home. (Meals : B)

Base rate does not include motor coach transportation, airfare, airport transfers, driver gratuity, guide gratuity, (student groups exempt) or any upgrades or add-ons unlisted from itinerary as stated. Pricing may vary based on day of arrival or other conditions. Personalized itineraries with custom pricing and/or additional transportation can be created and added based on client needs and upon client’s request. MARS will customize quotes or personalize itineraries for FREE.