The newest additions to the U.S. Civil Rights Trail already carry storied histories within.
Each year, new museums, churches, local history trails and historic buildings are added to the long list of sites on the Civil Rights Trail. These include both the historic places where the Civil Rights Movement unfolded and the modern institutions dedicated to an in-depth retelling of that story. As each site receives recognition for the significant role it played in the movement’s marches, demonstrations and speeches — and in the lives of its most compelling figures — it joins dozens of other significant attractions across the U.S. Here are the six new additions to the U.S. Civil Rights Trail in 2026, with information on how travelers can experience them to the fullest.
Jacksonville Civil Rights Trail
Jacksonville, Florida
While Northeast Florida might not first come to mind when one thinks of the Civil Rights Movement, Jacksonville has an extensive civil rights history that embodies both the movement’s leadership and Black culture past and present. That history can now be experienced by visitors following the U.S. trail with stops along the Jacksonville Civil Rights Trail. This series of 40 markers spread throughout Jacksonville educates visitors about places in the city that contributed to its tapestry of Black culture and heritage.
Markers on the Jacksonville Civil Rights Trail tell powerful stories of the movement in downtown Jacksonville, including “Ax Handle Saturday” in 1960, during which 40 Black demonstrators staged sit-ins at whites-only lunch counters and were met with violence by 150 white men carrying axe handles and baseball bats. In addition to memorializing places of turmoil and triumph, the trail also highlights sites like LaVilla neighborhood, which was called the “Harlem of the South” and is home to gems like the Ritz Theatre and Museum. Visitors will also find markers related to the lives of some prominent civil rights leaders, including the birthplaces of James Weldon Johnson and John Rosamond Johnson, writers and composers of “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” the hymn that became known as the Black National Anthem.
Texas & Pacific Railway Depot
Natchitoches, Louisiana
Architecture can instantly transport one into the past, and visitors can experience that feeling at the Texas & Pacific Railway Depot in Natchitoches, Louisiana. The historic depot serves both as a jarring reminder of the segregated South and as a powerful tool for educating visitors. In 2026, it was added to the U.S. Civil Rights Trail and became the 13th site in Louisiana’s Civil Rights Trail.
The building, constructed in 1927, is one of the last examples of segregated architecture still in existence in the state, with preserved separate entrances, waiting areas, ticket counters, bathrooms and signage for “white” and “colored” passengers. Visitors can observe the juxtaposition between the polished “white” waiting room and the plain “colored” waiting room, though the depot was located adjacent to the heart of the Black business community in Natchitoches. After the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which outlawed segregation in public places, the depot ceased regular passenger service, though it would be several years before the city fully desegregated. The city of Natchitoches donated the depot in the 1980s.
Today, it serves as the visitor center for the Cane River Creole National Historical Park. The National Park Service meticulously restored the building, even obtaining replica signage so that visitors can experience the grim reminder of the Jim Crow South.
Museum of Christian & Gospel Music
Nashville, Tennessee
Gospel music has deep roots within Black culture, and vice versa. Throughout the Civil Rights Movement, soulful notes of hymns acted as a medium for buoying Black voices, giving demonstrators courage and moving other Americans to recognize their fight for equality. That’s why it seems natural that the Museum of Christian & Gospel Music in Nashville, Tennessee, should be recognized on the nation’s official Civil Rights Trail.
The museum, which opened in late 2025, can be found downtown in Music City, not far from other iconic music and civil rights attractions. The 11,000-square-foot museum is a vision brought to life by the Gospel Music Association, and it contains both rare artifacts and immersive exhibits highlighting the history of the genre. The works of prominent gospel musicians, such as Thomas Dorsey, Reverend James Cleveland, Mahalia Jackson and Charles A. Tindley, are explored across themed galleries in the museum. Original sheet music for “Lift Every Voice and Sing” can also be found within the museum. Interactive displays let visitors experience the music for themselves, with opportunities to remix iconic songs.
The museum uses timed entry to maintain quality guest experience and is open Monday through Saturday, with extended evening hours on Thursdays.
Jefferson Street Sound Museum
Nashville, Tennessee
Jefferson Street has always been at the heart of Nashville’s Black community. It’s home to several historically Black colleges and universities: Fisk University, Tennessee State University and Meharry Medical College. In 1960, more than 3,000 protestors marched down Jefferson Street to the Davidson County Courthouse in response to the bombing of Civil Rights attorney Z. Alexander Looby’s home and got the mayor to concede the immorality of segregated lunch counters. Jefferson Street was also a hotbed of nightclubs where Black rhythm and blues performers flourished.
Capturing that legacy, the Jefferson Street Sound Museum was founded in 2011 by Lorenzo Washington. Housed in a historic 1909 building, the museum features a music production studio, a rehearsal hall, and museum galleries with artifacts and exhibits preserving Nashville’s Black music scene and the city’s Black heritage more generally. The museum frequently collaborates with local schools and local and national visitors to offer music and arts programs. Visitors can schedule private tours during the week, or they can visit the museum on Saturdays to participate in a public tour, which occurs every hour on the hour from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Caroline County Historic Courthouse
Bowling Green, Virginia
Interracial marriage was only legalized broadly throughout the U.S. in 1967, when the Supreme Court decision in Loving v. Virginia determined anti-miscegenation laws were unconstitutional under the 14th amendment. This landmark civil rights case was brought to the Supreme Court by Richard and Mildred Loving, who were married in Washington, D.C. Richard, a white man, and Mildred, a Black woman, were arrested, charged and pled guilty to violating Virginia’s anti-miscegenation law at the Caroline County Courthouse. The couple were sentenced to one year in jail, though the judge agreed to commute the sentence if the Lovings left Virginia. They attempted to have their convictions overturned but were denied appeals at the local and state level. Finally, in 1967, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear their case, and one couple’s determination toppled anti-miscegenation laws throughout the country.
The Caroline County Historic Courthouse campus, including the courthouse, former sheriff’s office and the jail, are located on Bowling Green’s Main Street. The campus was added to the country’s official Civil Rights Trail and stands as a reminder of the hard-fought journey to legalize racial equality in marriage. The 1830s courthouse is still an active courthouse today and is unavailable for tours, but the former sheriff’s office has been converted into an arts and cultural space, which travelers can arrange to visit.
Gloucester Museum of History
Gloucester, Virginia
Gloucester County, Virginia, was home to several Civil Rights heroes whose inspiring actions led to change. Irene Morgan refused to give up her seat on a segregated Greyhound bus in 1944, more than 10 years before Rosa Parks did the same in Montgomery, Alabama. Robert Russa Moton succeeded Booker T. Washington as the leader of Tuskegee Institute and advised five U.S. presidents. And Thomas Calhoun “T.C.” Walker, who was born enslaved, became Gloucester’s first Black lawyer.
Each of these leaders made their mark on history in the decades leading up to the Civil Rights Movement. This history is explored in the Gloucester Museum of History, housed in a 1770 building in downtown Gloucester that was once a tavern.
The museum brings the area’s history to life with more than 3,000 artifacts and includes exhibits about these prominent civil rights icons. It also hosts an African American Heritage Trail and free driving tour, which has 12 stops and markers. The trail features the area’s Black churches, schools and historic sites connected to prominent names in the movement, as well as some lesser-known local heroes whose stories still inspire visitors today. It also offers a virtual museum tour and is a great stop for field trips and group tours.
