Montgomery and Birmingham

Two iconic cities of America’s South, Montgomery and Birmingham are steeped in joint history and conflict, but their modern incarnations reflect a present that has made peace with its past.

Thriving and well worth a visit, the state capital of Alabama, Montgomery was once the founding headquarters of the Confederate States prior to the American Civil War, and nearly 100 years later the heart of the Civil Rights struggle in America. A visit to Montgomery will take you on a journey from the Antebellum Civil War era through stops at the State Capitol and the First White House of the Confederacy to the birth of the Civil Rights Movement by visiting places like the Rosa Parks Museum and the Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church, where Martin Luther King Jr. preached.

Birmingham, still one of the South’s industrial centres, has everything from an incredible ‘soul food’ scene to numerous sports teams and museums galore – but it is perhaps best known for being the focal point of America’s Civil Rights Movement. Learn about this incredible period in America’s past by visiting the Civil Rights Institute, the 16th Street Baptist Church, and Kelly Ingram Park, and even benefit from firsthand knowledge of people who were actually involved by taking a walking tour with one of the Civil Rights original foot soldiers.