First Tour of the African-American Heritage Trail of Mobile Rolls Through Mobile

May 27th, 2009

The first bus tour of the African-American Heritage Trail of Mobile rolled through the city on Tuesday, May 26, 2009. The trail includes 40 markers noting people, places and events that have shaped the history of Mobile over the past 300 years. From the construction of Fort Conde to the Slave Market on Royal Street and the home of Hank Aaron, each location represents a different facet that molded our city, state, and entire nation.

Dora Finley, Chairperson of the African-American Heritage Trail Committee, served as the tour guide for the maiden voyage. As the bus rolled past the each marked site, Ms. Finley would tell the story of its historic importance to African-Americans and their effects on present-day Mobile.

Soon, anyone interested can experience the Trail in one of three ways:

• Step-on Bus Tours – groups may charter a private tour bus with a map for your driver and narrate a tour and identify the historic markers. Call (251) 533-0994 for booking;

• Self-guided Tours – details maps will be available soon on the African-American Heritage Trail web site, (www.mobilehd.org/aaht - launching July 4, 2009), for anyone to drive the Trail on their own. Self-guided tour CDs will also be available soon from the Mobile Historic Development Commission (available in September 2009);

• School Bus Tours – these will be available for fourth-graders throughout Mobile County to go on as a field trip. It is the goal for the African-American Heritage Trail that every fourth-grader takes the tour.

Here’s the entire list of sites on the African-American Heritage Trail:

Hank Aaron’s Home
AfricaTown
Basilica of the Immaculate Conception
Bettie Hunter House
Big Zion A.M.E. Church
Broad Street Academy/Caldwell School
C. First Johnson House
Campground Neighborhood
Central/Dunbar High School
Christian Benevolent Funeral Home
Church of the Good Shepherd
C. H. Council School
Cook’s House, Oakleigh
Vernon Z. Crawford Law Firm
Creole Firehouse #l
Emanuel A.M.E. Church
Emerson Institute
Chain of Finley’s Drug Stores
Fort Conde
James Reese Europe
Dr. James A. Franklin House
Dr. Thomas Nathaniel Harris
John LeFlore Non-Partisan Voter’s League Office
A.N. Johnson Publishing
Johnson and Allen Mortuary
Michael Donald Street
Mobile County Training School
Most Pure Heart of Mary Catholic Church
National African-American Archives & Museum
Dave Patton House
LeRoy “Satchel” Paige
Plateau Grave Yard
Saint Martin De Porres Hospital
Slave Market
St. Louis Street Missionary Baptist Church
Stone Street Baptist Church
The State Street A.M.E. Zion Church
Wallace Turnage
Union Baptist Church
Dr. H. Roger Williams Drug Store