Moon U.S. Civil Rights Trail - (Travel Guide) by Deborah D Douglas (Paperback)

About the Book

Includes a foldout map of the Civil Rights Trail.

Book Synopsis

The U.S. Civil Rights Trail offers a vivid glimpse into the story of Black America's fight for freedom and equality. From eye-opening landmarks to celebrations of triumph over adversity, experience a tangible piece of history with Moon U.S. Civil Rights Trail.

• Flexible Itineraries: Travel the entire trail through the South, or take a weekend getaway to Charleston, Birmingham, Jackson, Memphis, Washington DC, and more places significant to the Civil Rights Movement
• Historic Civil Rights Sites: Learn about Dr. King's legacy at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, be transformed at the small but mighty Emmett Till Intrepid Center, and stand tall with Little Rock Nine at their memorial in Arkansas
• The Culture of the Movement: Get to know the voices, stories, music, and flavors that shape and celebrate Black America both then and now. Take a seat at a lunch counter where sit-ins took place or dig in to heaping plates of soul food and barbecue. Spend the day at museums that connect our present to the past or spend the night in the birthplace of the blues
• Expert Insight: Award-winning journalist Deborah Douglas offers her valuable perspective and knowledge, including suggestions for engaging with local communities by supporting Black-owned businesses and seeking out activist groups
• Travel Tools: Find driving directions for exploring the sites on a road trip, tips on where to stay, and full-color photos and maps throughout
• Detailed coverage of: Charleston, Atlanta, Selma to Montgomery, Birmingham, Jackson, the Mississippi Delta, Little Rock, Memphis, Nashville, Raleigh, Durham, Virginia, and Washington DC
• Foreword by Bree Newsome Bass: activist, filmmaker, and artist

Journey through history, understand struggles past and present, and get inspired to create a better future with Moon U.S. Civil Rights Trail.

About Moon Travel Guides: Moon was founded in 1973 to empower independent, active, and conscious travel. We prioritize local businesses, outdoor recreation, and traveling strategically and sustainably. Moon Travel Guides are written by local, expert authors with great stories to tell--and they can't wait to share their favorite places with you.

For more inspiration, follow @moonguides on social media.

Review Quotes

"Douglas uses her journalism skills to bring the history of these sites to life by profiling the people who make them what they are today, local restaurants to enjoy and even a playlist of music to enjoy along the way."

--NPR

"The book is an invitation to explore that history [outside our front doors], and to embrace our role in shaping it for the better every day."

--The Washington Post

"This guidebook provides a severely under-covered travel adventure, explained clearly, with impressive research breadth and depth. Journalist Deborah D. Douglas mixes history with contemporary knowledge to inspire civil rights-related travel as a concept and then illuminates how that concept plays out in 13 separate geographic locales."--Society of American Travel Writers' Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Awards

"With this superb book--at once a reference work and a travel guide--about locations pivotal to the U.S. civil rights movement, Douglas raises the bar for other historically oriented travel books...Laden with information, this affecting guide provides a nuanced and powerful representation of Black Americans' fight for freedom and equality. For every library."--Library Journal

"From the port where enslaved Africans entered America to the home where Medgar Evers was murdered, a new guidebook helps readers explore for themselves the history, the landmarks and the watershed moments of the Black American struggle for equality and justice."

--Associated Press

"The book is filled with...moving moments -- trials and struggles alongside triumphs and celebrations."

--Memphis Magazine

"Moon U.S. Civil Rights Trail, written by award-winning journalist and professor Deborah D. Douglas, opens up an opportunity for direct interaction with Black communities, landmarks, cultural staples and many overlooked yet significant locations in the history of the civil rights movement of the 1950s and '60s."

--NBC News

"While some travel guides focus on history, few do so in the level of detail as Douglas'...Douglas carefully scrutinizes source material from the movement, synthesizing facts and sharing her own impressions."

--The DePauw

"With profiles of national leaders and local heroes, helpful timelines, a suggested playlist and personal insights, Deborah's U.S. Civil Rights Trail guide is the perfect companion for a journey along the Trail. Her book enhances the experience of the movement and it offers a deeper dive into an important time in America's history."

--World Footprints

"Douglas' care for ethical travel involves utmost respect for the business owners and residents along the trail."--NewsNation Now

"It reads like a friend's travel recommendation, not a stuffy guidebook, and captures the importance of each location...There are detailed maps and beautiful, full color photos which make you want to hop in the car and grab a plate of fried chicken from The Four Way. It's a travel guide you won't want to miss out on reading."--The Covington Leader

"Award-winning journalist and author Deborah Douglas takes readers through an eye-opening journey in her book."--Travel Noire

"The best sort of guide--one equal parts narrative, historical, and service-forward."--AFAR Magazine

About the Author

Deborah D. Douglas, a distinguished member of the journalism community, directs the Medill Solutions Journalism Hub at Northwestern University, where she also serves as a faculty member. She is the founding co-editor-in-chief of The Emancipator, an award-winning digital platform that reimagines abolitionist newspapers, and she sits on its advisory board.

Douglas' significant contributions to journalism have earned her multiple recognitions, including the Society of American Travel Writers 2021 Guidebook of the Year for her work on the first edition of Moon U.S. Civil Rights Trail: A Traveler's Guide to the People, Places, and Events That Made the Movement.

Her extensive career includes roles such as the Eugene S. Pulliam Distinguished Visiting Professor at DePauw University and a senior leader with The OpEd Project, where she amplified underrepresented expert voices. Additionally, she was the founding managing editor of MLK50: Justice Through Journalism. Douglas has participated in prestigious fellowships like the Sulzberger Executive Leadership Fellowship at Columbia University, the Complicating the Narrative Fellowship by the Solutions Journalism Network, and the Kaiser Family Foundation/NABJ Fellowship.

At Northwestern University, Douglas spearheaded a graduate investigative journalism capstone on the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and imparted best practices in Karachi, Pakistan, as part of a teaching exchange.

Douglas' adventures in thought leadership were seeded at the Chicago Sun-Times. She served as Deputy Editorial Page Editor/Columnist, among other management roles. Her reporting and commentary have been featured in a wide array of publications such as The Guardian, Washington Post, Condé Nast Traveler, Afar magazine, Ms., ProPublica, Time, Borderless, The Boston Globe, American Prospect, Columbia Journalism Review, VICE News, USA Today, and O, The Oprah Magazine. Douglas is also among the 90 contributors to the New York Times bestselling Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619-2019.

Her work has been extensively covered by major media outlets including the Washington Post, NPR, BBC, PBS, Associated Press, WGBH, WBUR, WGBH, WBEZ, NewsNation, and more. She presented at the inaugural Obama Summit, and in 2016, The New York Times magazine cited her reporting on Black women and erasure. A product of the Great Migration, Deborah D. Douglas is Northern-born and Southern-rooted, embodying a blend of soft sensibility with an urban edge.