Anniston, AL – Public Relations Director for the city of Anniston, Jackson Hodges, shared that the Anniston Civil Rights Trail recognizes and remembers key events and significant sites and people in the city of Anniston during the American Civil Rights Movement (1954-1968). Along the trail, visitors will uncover acts of bravery and violence, cooperation and resistance. Today, the trail includes ten historic sites marked with brown and gold historic markers, along with a QR code, that when scanned by your smartphone’s camera, will take you to our new digital Civil Rights Trail. Each digital stop on our trail gives even more information about the people, places, and events that shaped the course of Anniston’s Civil Rights history.
The city invites you to learn about the community’s history, struggle, and triumph by taking a tour today.
Anniston Civil Rights Trail Landing Page: www.annistonal.gov/civil-rights-trail
Digital Trail Markers:
- Southern Railways Station
- Saint John United Methodist Church
- Trailways Bus Station
- Greyhound Bus Station
- Willie Brewster
- Human Relations Council
- Desegregation of the Library
- Anniston Memorial Hospital
- West 15th Street Historic District
- Seventeenth Street Baptist Church
How the Anniston Civil Rights Trail was Formed:
The Anniston Civil Rights and Heritage Trail Committee first began the Anniston Civil Rights Trail project in 2010 when conversations with local residents revealed that many people were unaware of the events that occurred in Anniston during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. Additionally, many students were not educated on the events or the people who risked their lives to bring about change, as local history is currently not part of the standard school curriculum. The members of the committee concluded that the Anniston Civil Rights Trail project would be a beneficial and engaging way to document Anniston’s past, as well as detail the present.
Contributors to the Anniston Civil Rights Trail:
The Anniston Civil Rights Trail was made possible by the City of Anniston, the Alabama Department of Tourism, the Alabama Historical Commission Black Heritage Council, and Jacksonville State University.
