12 Lesser Known Black History Sites in the South to Visit

Georgia’s Golden Isles region is best known for its rustic Atlantic beaches, occupied by wild horses and giant tortoises wading through driftwood. However, there are stories around the sand. On St. Simons Island, the beautiful marsh area known as Igbo Landing was the site of one of the largest slave suicides in history. Some locals believe the place is haunted by the spirits of the enslaved people who jumped into the ocean to escape plantation life.

The little white house at 826 North Second Street in Memphis, Tennessee, was a safehouse for enslaved people escaping to the North on the Underground Railroad, but no one knew it until 1991. Built by a German stockyard owner Jacob Burkle in the 19^th century, the home has a secret cellar and attic where he hid enslaved people before taking them to their next “station.” Since 1993, Slave Haven Underground Railroad Museum executive director, Elaine Turner, has been giving tours to adults and children who want to learn more about the fight for abolition.

It’s hard to leave The National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama, the same way you walked into it. Founded in 2018 by Bryan Stevenson and the Equal Justice Initiative, the memorial pays homage to Black Americans who lost their lives to racist lynching. More than 800 steel monuments represent the victims, and their names are engraved on the columns.

Downtown Greenville, South Carolina, has no shortage of charm, from Falls Park on the Reedy to the city’s impressive restaurant scene. Adding to its delights is the mural of Pearlie Harris, who began teaching in Greenville in 1962 and was the only Black teacher at the all-white Crestone Elementary until the city schools were integrated in 1970. Painted by Australian artist Guido Van Helten, the 18,900 square foot mural on the side of Canvas Tower depicts Harris teaching children of all races. She retired from teaching after 37 years, and the breast health center at St. Francis Eastside Hospital is also named in her honor.

Florida’s white sand beaches have been called some of the most beautiful in the world, but many of those beaches were segregated until the passage of the Civil Rights Act. Sections of the beach where people of color could swim became known as inkwells. African Americans created their own communities, including American Beach on Amelia Island and Lincolnville in St. Augustine. Tours are available of both areas.

The St. Rose de Lima Church in New Orleans has a history of defiance in the name of social justice nearly two centuries in the making. In the mid-1800s, it was led by Rev. Claude Paschal Maistre, who defied the archdiocese and performed the funeral of Capt. Andre Cailloux, a free man of color who died in the Civil War in 1863. The church is now home to the André Cailloux Center for Performing Arts and Cultural Justice, which focuses on developing new and imaginative works by African American artists.

On September 25, 1957, nine brave African American students integrated Central High in Little Rock, Arkansas. For months, segregationists yelled and spat at the children, who were ages 14 to 16 years old at the time. In 2021, bronze statues of the Little Rock Nine were erected in front of the state capitol to honor those brave students. Around the statues, visitors can read survivors’ quotes about their experiences.