Selma: Civil Rights & History Tour with Local Guide｜United States

Explore Selma’s complex story on a two-hour guided walking tour that connects the Civil Rights Movement with the city’s broader historical past. Led by Selma native Terry Chestnut, this experience brings together African American history, landmark Civil Rights sites, and key places that help explain Selma across different eras.

Your tour begins at the St. James Hotel and continues on foot between historic locations. Terry’s perspective is deeply personal: he is the son of J.L. Chestnut Jr., Selma’s first Black lawyer in the modern era and a prominent Civil Rights attorney who represented Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the SCLC, and other activists during the Selma movement. Growing up around the leaders and legal battles of the movement, Terry adds context that makes the history feel direct, human, and grounded in lived experience.

The route explores major Civil Rights landmarks such as Brown Chapel A.M.E. Church, the Edmund Pettus Bridge, First Baptist Church, George Washington Carver Homes, and the Selma Interpretive Center, highlighting the Selma-to-Montgomery voting-rights campaign and the events of March 7, 1965 (Bloody Sunday). The experience also includes significant sites tied to Selma’s wider history, with potential stops or views of places like Sturdivant Hall, the Vaughan-Smitherman Museum, Old Depot Museum, Old Live Oak Cemetery, and historic downtown streetscapes.

Expect thoughtful storytelling, historical commentary, and a deeper understanding of the people and forces that shaped Selma.