Civil Rights Tour

Explore some of America’s most prominent Civil Rights history with the Peace and Justice Institute, May 5th to 10th, 2024. We invite you to join us for a healing and introspective journey into our country’s past and current struggle for racial equality. We will be traveling to Atlanta, GA, and Montgomery, Selma and Birmingham, AL, including MLK’s birth home, the Edmund Pettis Bridge, the 16th Street Baptist Church and a full day of learning, dialogue and reflection at the Equal Justice Initiative’s museum and memorial. In the spirit of PJI, this trip will offer thoughtful challenges, support authentic reflection, build our sense of community and foster a commitment to peace.

Paul Chapman is Professor of Humanities and Peace Studies at Valencia College. He attended Florida State University where he received a BA in Humanities and an MA in International Affairs.

His study of human and civil rights began in high school and continued through college. From 1995 to 1998, he engaged with the complexities and nuances of many social issues while working at Capital City Youth Services, an emergency youth shelter in Tallahassee, FL. These experiences, among others, led Paul to Valencia College where he has been teaching courses in Humanities since August 1998 and Peace Studies since 2011. 

On the twentieth anniversary of his teaching career, in 2018, Paul took a sabbatical to study civil rights history. He spent 4 months reading books and traveling to several Southern states, going to some of the most significant cities, museums and historical sites related to our history of segregation and the struggle for civil rights. His most recent adventure took place in Rwanda (July 2023) to study the country’s colonial past, the genocide in 1994 and reconciliation, forgiveness and peace efforts over the last 30 years.  He continues to listen, read, speak, and learn about these topics out of a genuine need to know and understand.

Valada Flewellyn is an author, poet, historian, and storyteller. Valada is the author of seven books, her latest: “For the Children: The History of Jack and Jill of America Incorporated” (2018), the oldest African American family organization founded in 1938. Valada serves on the board of the Crealde School of Art in Winter Park, FL.

She is a founding member of the Alliance for Truth and Justice (ATJ) an affiliate of the Equal Justice Institute (EJI), a member of Bridging the Color Divide, a lifetime member of The Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) and serves as historian for the Dorothy Turner Johnson Branch. She is a member of the Seminole County branch of the League of Women Voters. Valada is an honorary member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated and is a member of the Washington Shores Presbyterian Church.

Valada is a graduate of Marymount College, BS in Marketing. Poetry by Valada can be found at the Alliance for Truth and Justice (ATJ)

· Depart Orlando to Atlanta (Morning Flight)

· MLK National Historic Park and the King Center for Nonviolent Social Change. Start here for tour of Dr. King’s birth home and MLK grave site.

· Ebenezer Baptist Church on Auburn Street – MLK and his father both preached here.

· Carter Center

· HOTEL – Holiday Inn Express and Suites. 800 Sidney Marcus Blvd NE, Atlanta GA 30324

· EJI National Memorial for Peace and Justice

· Rosa Parks Museum

· Historical markers for where Mrs. Parks got on the bus and was then arrested and taken off the bus (two separate locations).

· Dexter Avenue Baptist Church – the site where Dr. King preached and planned for the bus boycott.

· Civil Rights Memorial Center – Site of SPLC and Maya Lin Civil Rights Memorial.

· First White House of the Confederacy

· Freedom Rides Museum

· HOTEL – Holiday Inn Express & Suites Prattville South. 203 Legends Ct, Prattville, AL 36066

· National Historic Trail

· Lowndes Interpretive Center

· Memorial to Viola Liuzzo

· Selma Interpretive Center

· Edmund Pettis Bridge

· National Voting Rights Museum and Institute

· Brown Chapel – the staging point for Selma to Montgomery Marches, starting on March 17, 1965.

· HOTEL – Travel to Birmingham. Holiday Inn Express & Suites. 320 Commons Dr, Birmingham, AL 35209

· Kelly Ingram Park – site of major protests in May 1963.

· Sixteenth Street Baptist Church – site of a tragic bombing on September 15, 1963.

· Birmingham Civil Rights Institute

· HOTEL – Holiday Inn Express & Suites. 320 Commons Dr, Birmingham, AL 35209

· Georgia State Capitol Building

· Centennial Olympic Park

· Atlanta History Center

· Departure from Atlanta to Orlando (afternoon/early evening flight)

· HOTEL (If Needed) – Holiday Inn Express and Suites. 800 Sidney Marcus Blvd NE, Atlanta GA 30324

· Atlanta History Center

· National Center for Civil and Human Rights

· Departure from Atlanta to Orlando (afternoon/early evening flight)

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Atlanta Airport, 2600 Maynard H. Jackson Jr. Boulevard, Atlanta, United States