A day the world changed
- Cheré Dastugue Coen
- 4 days ago
- 6 min read
Montgomery celebrates the 70th anniversary of the city’s Bus Boycott to protest segregation.
Chalk this up as wild South because what happened in Montgomery, Ala., changed the course of the United States and the world.
I’ve visited Montgomery on several occasions and each time had profound experiences visiting the city’s many Civil Rights Movement sites. This December, what city officials label the birthplace of the Civil Rights Movement, will mark the 70th anniversary of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the nation’s first large-scale, sustained mass protest against segregation. On Dec. 5, 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a city bus to a white passenger and was arrested. What followed was a 381-day protest, led by the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and thousands of Montgomery residents. Many tie the Montgomery Bus Boycott as starting the Civil Rights Movement.
What to Experience in Montgomery
There are numerous museums dedicated to African American heritage and the Civil Rights Movement.
Start with the Rosa Parks Library & Museum which details how Parks, an African American seamstress working at a downtown Montgomery department store, refused to sit in the bus’s back section in December 1955 and started the Montgomery Bus Boycott. After joining the NAACP and attending a racial workshop where she felt equality for the first time, Parks couldn’t return to the degradation of the Montgomery bus system which required African Americans to sit in the back. She refused to give up her seat to a white patron and was taken to jail, thus prompting the 13-month Montgomery Bus Boycott that’s been credited with spearheading the Civil Rights Movement.
The museum explains Parks’s 5-minute bus ride in history, and visitors can watch it happen through an interactive film, plus witness the events that unfolded once the case was tried. Visitors can learn about the extensive system of carpools that were organized to bring people to work through the Montgomery Improvement Association and how the boycott brought the attention of the injustice of segregation to the nation.
The Holt Street Baptist Church saw the first mass meeting of the Montgomery Bus Boycott following Rosa Parks’ arrest, where more than 5,000 gathered to hear Dr. King deliver the speech that set the movement in motion. Now restored and reopened as a museum on the U.S. Civil Rights Trail, the site offers tours that allow visitors to sit in the same pews where history was made.
The Montgomery Improvement Association meetings were held at the Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church and visitors may visit the church sanctuary where the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. preached his sermons demanding equal rights for African Americans. It was here that King was asked to lead the boycott protest and is the only church where he served as senior pastor. Dexter Avenue Church was also the site where former Alabama Gov. George Wallace apologized on national TV for his actions defending segregation.
My personal favorite site is the Dexter Parsonage Museum, where Dr. King and his family lived for six years. It was in the home’s kitchen that a young King almost gave up the fight. Scared for the safety of his wife and baby, King prayed for guidance because he didn’t believe he could persevere. King later wrote that this moment was his epiphany from God, one in which he was assured divine assistance in his fight for truth and justice.
The day I visited our guide was a veteran of the movement, and her home tour was filled with anecdotes that had us riveted. She pointed out the crater where a bomb was detonated on the porch in the midst of the boycott and the dining room table where the Southern Christian Leadership Conference was created. But it was the kitchen, where a mighty leader had doubts and found solace that moved us the most, making us all realize how tiny most modern problems are.
A must for visitors who wish to learn the nation’s history of enslaved people to mass incarceration is the Equal Justice Initiative’s Legacy Site, which include the Legacy Museum, the 17-acre Freedom Monument Sculpture Park where contemporary art tells the complex story of slavery and the National Memorial for Peace & Justice, the only U.S. memorial dedicated to the memory of those terrorized by lynching.
Take a Tour
The lively and friendly Wanda Battle leads an overview of the city’s black history with her Legendary Tours where visitors may view sites such as the Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church and the Holt Street Baptist Church.
Battle hails from Montgomery and faithfully follows King’s message.
“Even though Dexter is Baptist, King’s message was universal: love is the foundation of all faiths,” Battle said as we toured the church. “Love is the greatest power there is. It always wins out over hate.”
What's Happening
There will be a weeklong commemoration marking the 70th Anniversary of the Montgomery Bus Boycott from Nov. 29 to Dec. 6, 2025.
Saturday, Nov. 29 – Youth Leadership Brunch
10 a.m. | St. Paul A.M.E. Church (706 E. Patton Ave.)
Hosted by St. Paul A.M.E. Church, this gathering celebrates emerging youth voices who embody the spirit of leadership and service rooted in the movement.
Sunday, Nov. 30 — 382: A Citywide Moment of Reflection
Churches across Montgomery will simultaneously share a 4–5 minute trailer of "382: The Montgomery Bus Boycott Documentary" and reflect on the movement’s lessons of faith and unity.
Monday, Dec. 1 – Unity Walk for Peace & Justice
5:30 p.m. | Begins at Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church (454 Dexter Ave.)
Followed by the Ecumenical Convocation & Awards Presentation at 7 p.m., St. Paul A.M.E. Church, featuring keynote speaker LaTosha Brown. At 6:06 p.m. churches and houses of worship nationwide will participate in the Worldwide Tolling of the Bells to honor Rosa Parks’ arrest and the movement it inspired.
Dec. 1–5 – Free Admission at the Rosa Parks Museum
Tuesday, Dec. 2 – Women in History Panel Discussion
Evening discussion presented by the Montgomery Housing Authority and the Rosa Parks Museum celebrating the women who shaped the Civil Rights Movement.
Wednesday, Dec. 3 – A Musical Interpretation of Blacks’ Protest Against Segregation in Montgomery
Presented by the ASU National Center for the Study of Civil Rights and African-American Culture, this commemorative performance explores how music amplified the struggle for justice.
Thursday, Dec. 4 – Film Premiere: "The Skin You’re In"
6 p.m. | Montgomery Performing Arts Centre (MPAC)
A new film exploring health inequities, race, identity, and resilience, followed by a community conversation.
Friday, Dec. 5 – Mass Meeting: “Where Do We Go From Here?”
5:30 p.m. | Holt Street Baptist Church (Court Street location)
Featuring the Rev. Dr. Otis Moss III of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago as keynote speaker, this reimagined mass meeting pays tribute to the spirit of 1955 with music, poetry, and a community call to action.
Saturday, Dec. 6 – Rosa Parks & Ella Baker Youth Call to Action Summit
8 a.m. | Rosa Parks Museum & Mt. Zion A.M.E. Zion Church Annex
A youth-led summit empowering ages 12–20 to engage in civic advocacy, service, and leadership.
Saturday, Dec. 6 – Rosa L. Parks Gala & Awards Program
7 p.m. | Elevation Convening Center & Hotel
A ticketed black-tie celebration honoring civil rights heroes, organizations, and modern champions of equity.
Where to stay
Located in the quiet Cottage Hill neighborhood, Elevation Convening Center and Hotel pays tribute to history, equality, and social justice. The hotel celebrates the historical legacy of Montgomery with curated artwork, a 2,500-square-foot in-house library, and Black Southern cuisine at AYA Soulful Dining. Book a hotel package with tours of the city’s Legacy Sites, or pause by the hotel’s reflection garden. Elevated rooms on the top floors offer sweeping views of the city and Alabama River.
Weird, Wacky & Wild South is written by travel writer and author Cheré Coen whose admiration for trailblazing women such as Rosa Parks knows no bounds.
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