The New York Times has named Montgomery, Alabama to its worldwide list of “52 Places to Go in 2024.”
The list, which features popular travel destinations such as the Caribbean, Paris, Maui, and Vienna, included Alabama’s capital because of its large role in the American Civil Rights Movement.
The Times’ Elaine Glusac explained why Montgomery came in at #28 on the list.
“When it comes to conversations about race in America, few destinations are as engaged as Montgomery, the former capital of the Confederacy and the birthplace of the civil rights movement,” Glusac wrote. “In 2018, the National Memorial for Peace and Justice became the first site of its kind to address racial terror across America, represented by 800 suspended steel pillars, one for each county where a lynching was known to have taken place.”
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The “Birthplace of the Civil Rights Movement,” as the city is known, is continuing to grow.
“Dedicated to the millions of enslaved Black people who were emancipated at the end of the Civil War, the steel-walled monument, which resembles an open book, will be engraved with more than 120,000 of their surnames.”
Only eight locations in the U.S. were chosen for the list. They are:
- Baltimore, Maryland
- Craters of the Moon, National Monument & Preserve (Idaho)
- Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni National Monument (Arizona)
- Kansas City, Missouri
- Pasadena, California
- Boundary Waters Wilderness (Minnesota)
- Flamingo Portion of Everglades Park (Florida)
Austen Shipley is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News.
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