Black Heritage Trail

1. Gainesville.

Maria Fearing inducted into the Alabama Women’s Hall of Fame in 2000.
She was born into slavery at Oak Hill plantation near Gainesville. After emancipation she became a missionary of the Presbyterian Church and worked for over twenty years in the Congo (known today as Zaire).

2. Demopolis

Morning Star Baptist Church (614 East Jackson Street)
Organized in 1812 it was used as a base for civil rights operations in the 1960s.

3. Praireville/Gallion

Oak Grove School was one of the schools built during the 1920s by the RosenwaldFoundation to provide blacks in the rural south the opportunity for a quality education. (.25 mi. W of AL 69, 1 mi. N of jct. of AL 69 and US-80)

4. Greensboro

Located at 2401 Davis Street, the King Cotton Gin House History Center and Safe House Civil Rights Museum houses photos of Dr. Martin Luther King, news clippings, an1860 slave auction document, and other documents and artifacts pertaining to civil rights.

5.Uniontown

Westwood Plantation (N of Uniontown off AL 61)
Today one can still see slave camps, barns, wells, cisterns, andcotton gins at this location.

6. Marion

Brave Harry (Marion Cemetery, Lafayette Street)
A servant to the president of Howard College (now Samford University), Harry lost his life saving students from a dormitory fire. There is a monument in his honor in Marion Cemetery.

Jimmy Lee Jackson’s Gravesite (Highway 14 East, 5 miles from Marion)
On February 18, 1965 the 26 year old Marion native was killed while participating in a civil rights march. His death incited the community and was one of the catalysts for a Selma to Montgomery march.

First Congregationalist Church of Marion (601 Clay Street)
Built in 1871 by freed slaves and the American Missionary Association, this church is the oldest of the African American built churches in Marion.

Bearean Baptist Church (804 Washington Street)
Built in 1873 by freed slaves, the church became an important meeting site during the civil rights movement.

Lincoln Normal School (Corner of Lincoln and Lee Streets)
Founded in 1867 by freed slaves as a school for African American children, the school was overseen for years by the American Missionary Association. The Phillips Auditorium is the last building original building on the site. There is also a Lincoln Museum located on this site.

7. Selma

Edmund Pettus Bridge (Highway 80)
This unique bridge constructed in the late 1930’s spans the Alabama River at Selma and is the gateway to the Selma-Montgomery National Trail. It was just east of the bridge that the famed “Bloody Sunday’confrontation occurred in March of 1965 leading to the National Voting Rights Act.

National Voting Rights Museum (91012 Water Avenue)
The museum is the headquarters for information on the role Dallas County and Selma played in the Voting Rights Movement. The museum centers on the foot soldiers, the unsung heroes of the Civil Rights movement. All information related to black history/heritage can be obtained by calling (334) 418-0800.

Slavery Museum (1410 Water Avenue)
Sister museum to the National Voting Right Museum, it is located down the street on Water Avenue. It is open by appointment for tours. Call the NVRM for information.

Selma University (1501 Boynton Street)
The founding of the Selma Chapter SNNC took place here. The university also served as an important civil rights meeting site. Founded in 1878 as a Baptist Seminary, many of its graduates returned to participate in the Civil Rights Movement. Its most famous graduate to participate was the Rev Fred Shuttlesworth.

Boynton House (1315 Boynton Street)
The Dallas County Voters League was founded here in the early 1930s. The League invited Dr. King to lead voting rights demonstrations in Selma.

Brown Chapel AME Church (410 Martin Luther King Drive)
A mass meting was held here to plan the Selma to Montgomery March. Brown Chapel was established in 1867 as the first AME church in the state.

First Baptist Church (intersection of Martin Luther King, Jr. Street and Jeff Davis Avenue)
Church was designed and built by a black architect in 1894. It is considered on of the nicer 19th century black churches in Alabama with regards to architecture. During the 1965 Voting Rights demonstrations it served as headquarters for various groups.

Jackson Home (1416 LapsleyStreet)
Martin Luther King Jr. frequently stayed here when he visited Selma. Dr. King received the call from the President concerning the Selma to Montgomery March.

8. Mount Sterling

Fairview Baptist Church and Grave of Jack Turner (County Road 43)
Church was built 1847 and used by former slaves. Jack Turner was a leader of free slaves in the area and was hung for allegedly plotting against the white community.

9. Thomaston (1120 Seventh Ave)

The Colored Institute (a.k.a. Thomaston Academy) was an educational institution of colored Primitive Baptists.

10. Annemanie

The Arlington Literary and Industrial High School (County Road 5) was established in 1903 by the Presbyterian Church. This school was in use as late as the 1970s. A broom factory, sawmill, and brickworks were also onsite.

11. Prairie

Prairie Mission School (off State Road 28)
Founded in 1885 as a day school, the premises included a classroom building, a dining hall, and a garden.

12. Miller’s Ferry

Wilcox County Training School (County Road 28)
Established in 1884, this is the oldest of Alabama’s day school. Teachers were originally supplied by the United Presbyterian Church of North America.

13. Gees Bend

Located off State Highway 29, 18 miles from Alberta and surrounded on three sides by the bridgeless Alabama River, Gees Bend is a small, isolated comunity in rural Wilcox County. Gees Bend was occupied by mostly black farmers who are descendants of slaves. This comunity is home to the popular Gees Bend quilts and the Freedom Quilting Bee.

14. Rosebud (State Road 10 East)

This community is the site of a mission of the Lutheran Church.

15. Snow Hill

Snow Hill Institute (State Roads 21 and 28)
The Snow Hill Institute was founded by Dr. William J. Edwards as the Colored Literary and Industrial School in 1893. The founder's home (circa 1897-98), five teachers' cottages (circa 1910-12), the library, and some other miscellaneous buildings are still on site today.

16.Carlton

Mount Nebo Cemetery (off County Road 19)
This cemetery is a National Historic Landmark. The death masks on the graves are the work of artist Isaac Nettles.

17. Belleville

The Belleville Baptist Church is located in Belleville just off Hwy 84. A two story frame building (circa 1840) with portico and external stairs leading to a slave gallery, this Church was organized by Alexander Travis, father of Alamo hero, William Barrett Travis.