Sites in Tennessee, Kentucky, added to Civil Rights Trail

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Two sites in Kentucky and two in Tennessee have been added to the U.S. Civil Rights Trail, officials said Thursday.

The Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville and the SEEK Museum in Russellville are the two new sites in Kentucky. In Memphis, Tennessee, the Beale Street Historic District and the WDIA radio station were also added to the trail, which was launched in 2018 to promote civil rights tourism.

The sites were announced at B.B. King's restaurant on Beale Street on Thursday.

“Today is a special day as Tennessee shines a brighter light on the brave men and women who stood up for equal rights,” Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said in a statement. “I am proud that with the addition of these two sites, travelers from around the world will have the opportunity to learn more about Memphis’ deep civil rights history.”

The Civil Rights Trail includes about 120 churches, courthouses, schools, museums and other landmarks primarily between Topeka, Kansas, and Washington, D.C., that were important to the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s, officials said. The four new locations are being added during Black History Month, officials noted.

Established in 1841 in Memphis, Beale Street featured black-owned businesses and became a place where African Americans could work and enjoy themselves during segregation. It remains a popular tourist attraction today.

The street, located in Memphis' downtown, was the site of a march led by The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. that turned violent in March 1968. The civil rights leader was killed in Memphis on April 4, 1968, when he returned to lead a second march in support of striking sanitation workers.

WDIA was the first radio station in the country programmed entirely for the black community, officials said....