Highlights

Flexible Pricing:

• Customizable Comps
• Net Rates
• Luxury or First Class Hotels & Meals
• Motorcoach Transportation & Professional Tour Managers are available

Tour Tennessee will be happy to structure tour prices to match your needs.  Just let us know!

Itinerary

Day 1 – Memphis, TN – Free Evening on Beale Street

Arrive today in Memphis, TN where you enjoy a three-night stay at a local hotel.  Tonight, enjoy a free evening on Beale Street for dinner on own.

Day 2 – Memphis Civil Rights Tour – National Civil Rights Museum – Slave Haven Underground Railroad Museum – Dinner & Entertainment at King’s Palace Cafe

This morning, enjoy a guided Memphis Civil Rights Tour and relive the pivotal moments of the Civil Rights Movement. See locations that defined an era of courage, resilience, and social change.  Tour Highlights include: I AM A MAN PLAZA where protesters once stood with unwavering determination, demanding equal rights and justice. Feel the spirit of their struggle as you stand on this historic ground, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Reflection Park, and the Mason Temple, a historic venue where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his legendary “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speech on the eve of his assassination. Plus, explore sit-in locations where activists made their stand, leaving an indelible mark on Memphis’s history and the broader Civil Rights Movement.

After a break for lunch on own, visit the National Civil Rights Museum.  Established in 1991, the National Civil Rights Museum is located at the former Lorraine Motel, where civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968. Through interactive exhibits, historic collections, dynamic speakers and special events, the museum offers you a chance to walk through history and learn more about a tumultuous and inspiring period of change.

The afternoon also includes a tour of the Slave Haven Underground Railroad Museum.  A walk through this antebellum home is a journey through history, revealing secrets of the past that had been kept hidden for more than 100 years. The house was built in 1849 by Jacob Burkle, livestock trader and bakery owner, who opened his home to help slaves escape to freedom.

End the day with dinner and entertainment at King’s Palace Café on Beale Street.  Enjoy authentic Southern cuisine and Memphis BBQ plus great blues and jazz music. (B,D)

Day 3 – Beale Street – Withers Collection Museum & Gallery – Stax Museum – Memphis Rock N Soul Museum – Dinner at Soul Fish Café

The morning starts on iconic Beale Street, an epicenter of African American achievement, culture and heritage. Here, you visit the Withers Collection Museum and Gallery featuring Dr. Ernest C. Withers’ archive of almost 2 million photographs.  While most famous for his coverage of the Civil Rights Movement, Withers is also widely recognized as providing unique content of American history in the realms of sports, music, politics, and everyday life. His powerful and personal images of figures like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jackie Robinson, Aretha Franklin, Elvis, and Richard Nixon, among many others, contextualize mid-century America from its heartland in a way no other photographer’s work does.

Then enjoy some free time on Beale Street for lunch on own.

The afternoon features The Memphis Rock ‘N’ Soul Museum, located just off Beale and the go-to spot when it comes to Memphis music history. Created by the Smithsonian Institution, the Museum tells the story of musical pioneers who, for the love of music, overcame racial and socio-economic barriers to create the music that shook the entire world.

Next, take a trip to Soulsville U.S.A. and discover the Memphis Sound at the Stax Museum of American Soul Music. Learn how music legends of the 60s and 70s, like Otis Redding, Carla Thomas, Booker T & The M.G.’s, Isaac Hayes and more, began careers that would shape music around the world. While the country was rife with racial tension, this integrated studio welcomed artists regardless of race and produced songs that called for social change in our country.  With more than 2,000 cultural artifacts, music exhibits, video footage, and items of memorabilia, the museum is designed to preserve and promote the legacy of American soul music, particularly that of Stax Records.

End the day with dinner at the Soul Fish Café featuring traditional Southern comfort food like traditional po’ boys, fried catfish and smoked chicken. Make sure to save room for the homemade hushpuppies or the caramel pecan pie. (B,D)

Day 4 – Depart for Home

After breakfast, depart for home. (B)

Tour Map