Communities across Alabama preserve and present civil rights history to visitors and residents alike.
A WBRC 6 News report covered the second anniversary of Tuscaloosa's Civil Rights History Trail. Organizers say the self-guided downtown route officially opened June 10, 2019, according to civilrightstuscaloosa.org. That trail features 18 stops, letting visitors walk the city at their own pace while learning about local history.
A Barbershop With a Deeper Story
One of the stops on Tuscaloosa's trail is Linton's Barbershop, a site tied to one of the University of Alabama's most painful chapters. The location is where Autherine Lucy sought shelter after a mob forced her to leave campus, according to a report from wbrc.com. The City of Tuscaloosa has since purchased the barbershop, with officials saying, “We're going to turn that eventually into a museum,” per the same report.
Birmingham, meanwhile, has built out an even larger footprint of civil rights markers. More than 100 historic trail markers are displayed throughout downtown Birmingham and in nearby historically Black neighborhoods, according to birminghamcivilrights.com. That scale has also made the markers a target: the City of Birmingham responded last year after vandals defaced several trail markers near 19th Street and 11th Avenue North, wbrc.com reported.
Vandalism Interrupted a Solemn Commemoration
One of the damaged markers depicted civil rights icon Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth, with a swastika drawn above the image, according to wbrc.com's reporting. City personnel removed the damaged markers over the weekend following the incident, though two remaining markers appeared to have new markings when crews returned Monday, the station reported.
The push to document and share this history isn't confined to a single city. In North Alabama, organizers behind the Northern Gateway project have launched a $20 million campaign to support a planned Scottsboro Boys Civil Rights Museum and the Judge James E. Horton Jr. Legal Learning Center in Decatur, according to waff.com. Project leaders say the effort will bring tourists to North Alabama, the outlet reported.
Alabama's Role in a Growing National Trail
These local initiatives are unfolding as the broader U.S. Civil Rights Trail itself grows. The national trail expanded in 2026, adding historic places across four states, according to civilrightstrail.com, and now spans a collection of churches, courthouses, schools, museums and other landmarks across 15 states total.
Alabama's civil rights tourism draw has become significant in economic terms as well. The state has 29 civil rights heritage sites, and visitor spending at those sites was reported in 2024 by tourism.alabama.gov.
These projects reflect a state-spanning effort to keep civil rights history visible, walkable, and accessible to new generations.
