Baton Rouge and New Orleans are among dozens of cities located along a new U.S. Civil Rights Trail stretching through 14 states.
The states—which once fought to maintain racial segregation—are banding together to promote civil rights tourism at numerous sites, such as the building where the Confederacy was born as well as the motel where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. died. The trail, unveiled as part of the MLK holiday weekend, highlights about 130 sites linked to the modern civil rights movement.
Baton Rouge is notable for T.J. Jamison, a Baptist minister and one of the founders of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Jamison led the nation’s first bus boycott against segregation and his efforts served as a model for the Montgomery Bus Boycott. The city also is included because of the 106-mile march for civil rights that started in Bogalusa and ended 10 days later on the steps of the Louisiana State Capitol.
New Orleans is a landmark site for public school integration because of its courts and Ruby Bridges, a six-year-old girl who was escorted by federal marshals through an angry mob of racists, to integrate William Frantz Elementary.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit was home to the “Fifth Four,” four judges who contributed to several landmark decisions regarding school desegregation.
