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Tuscaloosa’s main civil rights landmarks are connected by the free, 18-stop Tuscaloosa Civil Rights History Trail, which is currently a self-guided tour. Begin with the trail’s markers and stories, then plan around its two dependable indoor museum visits: the Paul R. Jones Museum downtown and the Murphy African American Museum farther south. Foster Auditorium, where George Wallace tried to block James Hood and Vivian Malone in 1963, is a separate campus visit. Check opening details before you go: the trail’s stops are spread across town, and many are outdoor markers rather than museums.
What is the Tuscaloosa Civil Rights Trail?
The Tuscaloosa Civil Rights History Trail is a free, self-guided route through 18 sites that tell stories of slavery, segregation, civil rights organizing, violence and Black community life. The trail opened June 10, 2019, according to the Encyclopedia of Alabama (published 2024, updated October 13, 2025); The Tuscaloosa News also reported 18 stops in 2022. Look for circular green markers with a handprint and stop number. The foundation’s web trail provides stop information.
Do not expect 18 staffed attractions. Most stops are public-facing markers, exteriors, historic streetscapes or active churches. The two stops with clearly published regular museum hours are the Paul R. Jones Museum and Murphy African American Museum. The Dinah Washington Cultural Arts Center is an operating arts venue, not a daily walk-in civil rights museum.
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The route’s history extends beyond the 1960s. It includes enslavement and the state capital, Reconstruction-era Black leadership, lynching, the Ku Klux Klan, segregated public facilities and the organizing that preceded and followed Bloody Tuesday. For context on how the trail was assembled, The Tuscaloosa News reported that a task force formed in 2016 and interviewed dozens of residents who had participated in protests in the 1950s and 1960s.
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How can you visit the trail in 2026?
Plan for a self-guided visit. The foundation’s guided-tours page says, “At this time the Foundation is offering self-guided tours only.” That current operator information is the most useful guide to tour availability; older coverage and the Encyclopedia of Alabama mention guided tours, but those descriptions do not establish that tours are presently running.
- Get a guide or pass. A free printed brochure is available at the Visit Tuscaloosa Visitors Center, 1900 Jack Warner Parkway, Tuscaloosa, AL 35401. Visit Tuscaloosa also offers a free digital pass with no app download required. Its Civil Rights Trail Passport emphasizes check-ins at key places, including Bloody Tuesday sites.
- Check what is open. The markers are outdoors, but entry to the museums, churches and arts center depends on their schedules. Call the Murphy Museum and Dinah Washington Cultural Arts Center before making either a fixed part of your day.
- Divide the route into clusters. Stops 1–13 are mainly downtown; stops 14–18 sit farther south and west. Foster Auditorium is on the University of Alabama campus and is separate from the numbered 18-stop trail.
- Use a current map and verify addresses. Some older materials use 6th Street where current listings use Gary Fitts Street. Several other stops also have inconsistent street numbers across sources.
- Allow time for reading and reflection. The route includes slavery, lynching, Klan activity and police violence. Parents may want to preview the Bloody Tuesday and Old Jail material before bringing young children.
For questions, Visit Tuscaloosa lists (205) 391-9200 for its visitor center and digital passes. Its museums listing gives (205) 758-1193 for the trail, while the foundation’s site lists [email protected] for people seeking notice if guided tours resume. If contact details conflict, start with the visitor center.
What happened on Bloody Tuesday in Tuscaloosa?
Bloody Tuesday was June 9, 1964, when a march protesting segregation at the county courthouse was violently stopped at First African Baptist Church. The marchers had gathered at the church, 2621 Stillman Boulevard, before setting out toward downtown. The foundation’s trail introduction describes police and Klansmen attacking people as they came out of the church; tear gas was fired into the building.
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1Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute2Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems3Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesThe number jailed differs by source: the foundation says 94 people were jailed, while the Encyclopedia of Alabama (2024, updated 2025) reports 93 arrested. Both report that 33 people were hospitalized. The foundation says all charges were later dismissed and no formal apologies were issued. Keep the discrepancy visible rather than treating either arrest figure as settled.
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The protest was directed at a courthouse that opened with segregated facilities despite assurances that the new building would be integrated. The sources also disagree on when the courthouse formally opened or was dedicated: accounts give dates in 1963 and April 1964. The stable facts are that the building had “white” and “colored” fountains, Black restrooms were in the basement, and the June 9 march sought to challenge that segregation. The violence took place at the church as the march began—not on the courthouse steps. The foundation’s Stop 11 account says Rev. T. Y. Rogers and colleagues later won a federal suit that forced integration of the building.
Which civil rights landmarks are on the trail?
Stops 1–13 cluster around downtown University Boulevard and Greensboro Avenue. The remaining five are farther south and west, where the route reaches Black churches, the Murphy-Collins House and the Howard-Linton site. The trail’s markers connect the places; the notes below clarify what a visitor can actually see and where access is limited.
Downtown: the capital, jail, organizing and art
- Capitol Park. Alabama’s capital stood here from 1826 to 1846. The Encyclopedia of Alabama says architect William Nichols built the capitol using enslaved labor and stone quarried from university land; lawmakers also passed slave codes there. Ruins remain outdoors. The foundation and older reporting give 2800 6th Street, while a June 2026 Tuscaloosa News listing gives 2800 Gary Fitts Street. Use a current map rather than assuming those names or addresses are interchangeable.
- Lynching and the Old Jail. The former county jail at 2803 6th Street operated from 1856 to 1890. An Equal Justice Initiative marker stands at the corner, but this is an exterior historic building, not a jail museum with published visitor hours. Accounts give different counts for different scopes: the marker names nine people lynched in Tuscaloosa County from 1884 to 1933; The Tuscaloosa News reported eight lynchings in front of the jail between 1844 and 1933; and the Encyclopedia of Alabama describes 77 additional lynchings documented “in and around Tuscaloosa” after Henry Burke’s 1884 lynching. These figures cover different places and periods and should not be added together.
- Druid Theatre and Hollywood. In July 1964, the week after the Civil Rights Act, Black teenagers attending a film were met by white people throwing rocks and bottles. The next day a mob harassed actor Jack Palance and his family; Police Chief William Marable got them out, and the city imposed a three-week curfew. The former theatre is part of the 2400 block of University Boulevard story, not a restored attraction.
- The Mob at the Flagpole. The flagpole at Greensboro Avenue and University Boulevard was a rallying point against Autherine Lucy in February 1956. The foundation lists 2420 University Boulevard; a 2022 newspaper story gives 2410. The stop also recalls Tuscaloosa News editor Buford Boone, whose editorial “What a Price for Peace” won the 1957 Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing.
- Woolworth and the sit-ins. At the former Woolworth, 2319 University Boulevard, Rev. T. Y. Rogers and the Tuscaloosa Citizens for Action Committee (TCAC) challenged segregation at lunch counters in early June 1964. White residents attacked protesters at Woolworth, H&W Drug and S. H. Kress. Expect a marker at the former store, not a preserved lunch counter.
- First Black legislator, Shandy Wesley Jones. Jones was born into slavery in 1816, emancipated as a child, and later became a barber and businessman. He helped organize Hunter Chapel AME Zion in 1866, started Tuscaloosa’s first school for Black students and was elected to the Alabama House in 1868—the first Black person from Tuscaloosa to hold that office. The foundation lists 2328 6th Street; a 2022 news account places the marker on the 2300 block of University Boulevard. Encyclopedia of Alabama says Klan leader and editor Ryland Randolph’s threats drove Jones and his family to Mobile in 1871.
- Kress Building and the bus boycott. On May 5, 1962, a Druid Transit driver ordered Black riders to give up their seats at this University Boulevard stop. Four young Black riders were involved: three Stillman College students and one high school student, according to the foundation and 2022 news coverage. Their arrests for disorderly conduct helped prompt clergy to form the TCAC, with Rev. Willie Herzfeld as president. After another violent driver incident, Black residents organized a boycott; integrated Tuscaloosa Transit Company service began April 12, 1965. The stop is at 2223 University Boulevard.
- Paul R. Jones Museum. Jones, a Bessemer native and Howard University graduate, was rejected by the University of Alabama law school in February 1949 after the school learned he was Black. He later donated 1,700 artworks to the university in 2008. The university created the downtown museum in 2011; the collection now numbers more than 2,000 works, according to the Encyclopedia of Alabama. The foundation’s older trail material gives 2308 6th Street, but the university’s current listing is 2308 Gary Fitts Street, Tuscaloosa, AL 35401. Admission is free; see hours below.
- Alston Building and the KKK. Built in 1909 at 2400 6th Street and Greensboro Avenue, the Alston Building was nicknamed Tuscaloosa’s first skyscraper. Robert Shelton, Imperial Wizard of the United Klans of America, kept offices there. The Encyclopedia of Alabama says more than 11 lynchings occurred within the building’s shadow and that Klan members discussed the 1963 Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bombing and the 1981 lynching of Michael Donald inside. In 1987, a civil suit brought by Beulah Mae Donald led to a judgment against the Klan and the sale of its local property. This is a private office building; visit the exterior and marker.
- Dinah Washington Cultural Arts Center. At 620 Greensboro Avenue, this arts center occupies the former Allen & Jemison hardware building and opened August 29, 2013. Dinah Washington, the “Queen of the Blues,” spent her early years in Tuscaloosa before her family moved to Chicago. The center hosts rotating arts activity and includes the Alabama Power Grand Hall and Rotary Club of Tuscaloosa Black Box Theatre. It has no published standing walk-in gallery schedule; call (205) 758-5195 and check for First Friday events.
- County Courthouse and marchers. At 714 Greensboro Avenue, this is the working courthouse whose segregated facilities prompted the Bloody Tuesday march. Voters approved a $2.5 million bond in 1955 after assurances that the courthouse would be integrated, but the building opened with segregated fountains and basement restrooms for Black visitors. The opening and dedication dates vary by source, so do not rely on a single date. The courthouse is a public building in active use, not a dedicated museum.
- Greensboro Avenue churches. The churches around 800 Greensboro Avenue illuminate the city’s antebellum religious and racial order. In an 1859 First Methodist census, 200 of its 800 members were white and 600 were enslaved. University president and slaveholder Basil Manly pastored First Baptist. Charles Stillman, pastor of First Presbyterian, founded a seminary for Black ministers in 1876–78 that became Stillman College. These are congregations and historic exteriors, not a single museum; ask before entering.
- Bluefront District. At 811 23rd Avenue, markers recall a segregated Black business district that developed after World War II, with doctors, dentists, lawyers, insurers and a taxi stand. The Cardinal Theatre opened in 1947 for Black audiences. Today the visit is to the streetscape and marker, not a preserved commercial district.
South and west: churches, a house museum and a barbershop site
- Bailey Tabernacle CME Church. Founded in December 1870 by the last 45 Black members of First Methodist, this church at 1117 23rd Avenue was designed by Wallace A. Rayfield, Alabama’s first Black architect. On June 10, 1964, the day after Bloody Tuesday, it hosted a mass meeting led by Martin Luther King Jr., James Bevel, Harold Middlebrook and Richard Boone. Treat it as an active congregation, not a drop-in museum.
- Hunter Chapel AME Zion Church. The church at 1105 22nd Avenue was formed by Shandy Jones and others in 1866; the current building was completed in 1881, according to the Encyclopedia of Alabama. A young King preached there in 1955. A foundation stop snippet also uses “founded in the 1850s,” but 1866 is the documented organization date to use when describing its formation.
- First African Baptist Church. Organized in 1866, this church at 2621 Stillman Boulevard became the city’s largest Black church by the early twentieth century. Booker T. Washington spoke there in 1910 about his education program. The church was a mass-meeting place and the starting point for Bloody Tuesday. In March 1964, King installed T. Y. Rogers as pastor. That date is after the August 28, 1963 March on Washington, so do not repeat older copy that incorrectly places the installation a few weeks before King’s “I Have a Dream” speech.
- Murphy-Collins House / Murphy African American Museum. The Craftsman home at 2601 Paul W. Bryant Drive tells the story of Will J. Murphy, Tuscaloosa’s first licensed Black mortician, and affluent Black life in the early 1900s, alongside civil rights artifacts and other exhibits. Sources differ on whether the house was built in 1920 or 1923; the foundation describes it as early 1920s. Alabama Tourism says African American contractors built it with brick and sills salvaged from the old capitol. Call (205) 758-2861 before visiting to confirm current hours.
- Howard-Linton Barbershop / Linton’s Barbershop Plaza. The foundation’s address is 1311 T. Y. Rogers Jr. Avenue; Visit Tuscaloosa promotes the commemorative plaza at 1305 T. Y. Rogers Avenue. The shop, built about 1940 in the area known as the Block, served as a meeting place. Autherine Lucy took refuge there or in the adjoining beauty shop after being attacked leaving class in February 1956; on Bloody Tuesday it served as a triage point. Current tourism copy describes a plaza, not a confirmed open barbershop or indoor museum, so plan on an exterior visit.
Which museums can you visit indoors?
The Paul R. Jones Museum and Murphy African American Museum are the trail’s clearest indoor museum stops, and both advertise free admission. Their schedules differ: Jones is the more dependable weekday option, while Murphy’s stated hours are limited and should be confirmed by phone.
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One free scan finds every outdated or missing driver and matches the right update for your exact hardware.Free scan · exact hardware match| Place | Admission and published hours | Address and contact |
|---|---|---|
| Paul R. Jones Museum | Always free; Monday–Friday, 9 a.m.–5 p.m.; until 8 p.m. on First Fridays | 2308 Gary Fitts Street, Tuscaloosa, AL 35401 |
| Murphy African American Museum | Free; Tuesday–Friday, 10 a.m.–3 p.m.; other times by appointment. Alabama Tourism’s indexed listing also describes it as wheelchair accessible. | 2601 Paul W. Bryant Drive; (205) 758-2861 |
Hours and admission checked November 2026 against the available listings; call ahead because schedules can change. The University of Alabama’s Jones Museum page publishes its hours, location and admission. The Murphy details come from the Alabama Tourism listing, whose hours were available in indexed copy; phone confirmation is prudent. Visit Tuscaloosa also lists the Murphy African American Museum.
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The Dinah Washington Cultural Arts Center is a third possible interior stop if an event or gallery is open, but it does not publish a regular walk-in schedule in the listings reviewed. Call (205) 758-5195. Do not assume an active church or private office building on the trail is open to visitors.
What is the Foster Auditorium connection?
Foster Auditorium is an additional University of Alabama campus landmark, not one of the trail’s numbered 18 stops. On June 11, 1963, Governor George Wallace stood in the auditorium doorway to block James Hood and Vivian Malone from enrolling; the attempt failed after the Alabama National Guard moved him aside. Malone became the university’s first African American graduate in 1965. Hood left the university within weeks, in August 1963, according to a 2016 foundation tour draft.
The Hood-Malone Plaza and Autherine Lucy Clock Tower were dedicated November 3, 2010, according to that draft. The plaza commemorates Malone and Hood; the tower honors Lucy, who became the first Black student to attend the university in 1956. Lucy attended classes February 3 and 4. On February 6, a crowd of more than 1,000 white harassers forced her removal, and the Board of Trustees expelled her that evening, according to the Encyclopedia of Alabama. She later returned and earned a master’s degree in education in 1992.
Plan on the plaza and clock tower as the confirmed outdoor visit. No reliable interior tour hours or ticket information are established here, so do not build a visit around auditorium entry. Foster is a separate campus leg, not “stop 19” of the trail.
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How should you arrange the visit?
For a short visit, prioritize the downtown cluster, the Paul R. Jones Museum during its weekday hours, and a separate Foster Auditorium stop if the university history is central to your trip. For a fuller day, divide the route into three segments: downtown markers and Jones; the west-side churches, First African Baptist and Murphy Museum; then Foster Auditorium on campus. The physical spread means a single continuous walk may not be the most practical way to see every site.
Outdoor markers can generally be viewed without museum opening hours, but church access is different: congregations follow their own schedules, and nothing in the trail listings makes their sanctuaries public exhibits. Likewise, Capitol Park, the Old Jail, Alston Building and former businesses are outdoor or exterior visits. The trail brochure and digital pass are free, and both indoor museums advertise free admission.
Some addresses remain inconsistent across current and older materials: the Jones Museum is now listed by the university at Gary Fitts Street, while the foundation and older news copy use 6th Street; the Flagpole stop is listed at 2420 or 2410 University Boulevard; and the barbershop site appears as 1311 or 1305 T. Y. Rogers Avenue. These records do not establish a municipal street-renaming explanation. Use a live map, and call the venue if the exact entrance matters.
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What should you read before or after the trail?
For a deeper account of the local campaign, the Encyclopedia of Alabama lists John M. Giggie’s Bloody Tuesday: The Untold Story of the Struggle for Civil Rights in Tuscaloosa (Oxford University Press, 2024). For university desegregation, B. J. Hollars’s Opening the Doors (University of Alabama Press, 2013) and E. Culpepper Clark’s The Schoolhouse Door (Oxford University Press, 1993) focus on the campus struggle. These are reading recommendations, not a substitute for checking current site access.
Frequently Asked Questions
What should I read to understand Tuscaloosa’s civil rights history before I go?
John M. Giggie’s Bloody Tuesday (Oxford University Press, 2024) focuses on the local campaign. For university desegregation, B. J. Hollars’s Opening the Doors and E. Culpepper Clark’s The Schoolhouse Door offer separate campus-focused accounts.
Is Stillman College one of the 18 Tuscaloosa Civil Rights Trail stops?
No. Stillman College at 3601 Stillman Boulevard is not on the current numbered trail, though its students took part in the 1962 bus protest and the college supported Malone and Hood. Its connection helps explain why the trail’s story extends beyond its formal stops.
Is the Murphy African American Museum wheelchair accessible?
Alabama Tourism’s listing describes the museum as wheelchair accessible. Because the available hours and access details come from indexed listing copy, call the museum at (205) 758-2861 to confirm current arrangements before traveling.
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