American Musical Journey 2027

We begin in the "Home of the Blues," standing on Beale Street—the neon-lit thoroughfare where W.C. Handy first transcribed the Delta’s sorrow into a global language of song. From there, we move to the Stax Museum of American Soul Music, a hallowed former garage that became an integrated powerhouse of Black excellence and the "Soundtrack of the Revolution."

The music meets the mission at the National Civil Rights Museum. Standing at the Lorraine Motel, we learn about the 1968 sanitation workers' strike and we bear witness to the balcony where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his life for the "Beloved Community."

We balance this heavy history with the city’s living pulse: dry-rub ribs at The Rendezvous (a Memphis culinary landmark for more than 75 years) and late-night sessions where the Blues still breathes.

Other stops might include the legendary Sun Studio, Handy's home, the Memphis Music Hall of Fame, the Memphis Rock and Soul Museum, or the Blues Hall of Fame Museum.

Choose Your Adventure

During free time, participants can feel the currents of history in many corners of the Bluff City, choosing to learn secrets of the past at the Slave Haven Underground Railroad Museum; tour Elvis' Graceland home; check out the famed Mallard ducks at The Peabody Hotel; explore the live fish, alligators, amazing views, and other attractions of the Bass Pro Shop in the 535,000-square-foot pyramid; stroll the Riverwalk and pose in front of the 50-foot Memphis sign at the 52-acre Mud Island Park along the Mighty Mississippi; and more!

We head South into the heart of the Delta, following the Blues Trail along Highway 61.

Our first stop is Tunica’s Gateway to the Blues Museum.

We then cross the Mississippi into Helena, Arkansas, to visit the Delta Cultural Center, home to the legendary King Biscuit Blues Time radio broadcast.

In Clarksdale, the fabled "Crossroads," we visit the Delta Blues Museum and Cat Head Delta Blues & Folk Art, meeting the local keepers of the flame who ensure this history stays alive and electric.

In Ruleville and  Mound Bayou—the oldest all-Black municipality in the U.S.—we're inspired by the fearless activism of Fannie Lou Hamer, whose songs were as much a weapon for justice as her words.

The GRAMMY Museum in Cleveland connects us to the breadth of American music and of legendary artists.

In Indianola, we immerse ourselves in the B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center, exploring how a sharecropper’s son became a global ambassador for the Delta’s story.

Today, the music meets the hard reality of the soil. We visit Greenwood to learn about the tragic story of 14-year-old Emmett Till, a moment that galvanized the civil rights movement.

In our rolling classroom, we share reflections and questions from our days of witness on the road. Back in Memphis, we celebrate with one another over a final dinner.

Our journey concludes with hearts full of the music and the truth of this essential Southern and American history as we worship at a historic Black church.

We process how the soundtrack of the Delta—from the sorrow songs of the enslaved to the defiant anthems of the 1960s—can continue to guide our collective path toward "The Beloved Community."

We host a pre-trip community-building and informational meeting to which all participants are invited. We also hope interest warrants at least one post-trip potluck open to all travelers. We're glad to include anyone at a distance via video-conferencing.

Travelers will join an informal network of all our racial justice travel groups to share articles and other resources, attend lectures and exhibits (for those local), and otherwise connect around racial justice topics.

This is not a traditional sightseeing tour nor an extended lecture, but rather an intentional community of inquiry.

• Expert Facilitation: Led by a seasoned historian guide with the voices of local experts and activists, we engage in deep-dive discussions that connect historical sites to contemporary issues.
• Reflection: We integrate periods of silence and group reflection, allowing the weight of our surroundings to inform our personal and professional growth.
• Connection and Joy: We find rejuvenation through shared meals, conversation, and community.
• Co-Creation: We each share our questions, knowledge, and inspiration--with vulnerability, with courage, with open-heartedness--and thereby shape the experience for everyone.
• Impact: Together, we allow the weight of the sites we visit and the people we meet to transform our collective understanding and empower us to be more aware and engaged back at home.

History is not the past. It is the present. We carry our history with us. We are our history. James Baldwin

Here's what past racial justice trip participants have had to say....

I feel transformed. Not sure where I'm going to land after this experience, but know I won't be the same person as I was before the trip.

What was most meaningful for me were the visceral experiences of being in these places, standing on the ground where they happened, understanding on a more encompassing level the magnitude and depth of our racial history and the unhealed individual and national wounds we can't continue to ignore.

I did some grieving and alot of gratitude practices as I moved through each site. I found hope in meeting and hearing from people who lived through these times and also ones who are currently and continually working on the goal of racial equity.

Participants shared personal stories of overcoming hardships and discrimination, of meeting hatred with love, and provided real time models that are so inspiring! I felt trusted with their tender experiences. I felt challenged to explore myself and new ideas and I felt safe to say my truths. Thank you one and all.

I’ve always been interested in the Civil Rights Movement, but there is no substitute for actually walking the Bloody Sunday bridge, standing on the corner where Rosa got on that bus, and visiting the church where Martin Luther King, Jr. grew up. It’s an experience that will change anybody’s life, no matter how much or how little you already know about the Movement. 

The past came alive for us, tears fell, and lives changed. I gained incredible knowledge…and made a commitment to work for justice, equality, and human rights in whatever ways I can. Everyone should take advantage of this transforming journey. 

This is a powerful trip that should be experienced by as many people as possible. 

I now feel more authentic in my effort to join with others to do what my heart always wished to do. What a gift.

• Educators looking to deepen their curriculum and bring "hard history" to life for their students.
• Community Leaders interested in how public policies and spaces reflect—and affect—our collective values.
• Curious Adults seeking a more complete and nuanced understanding of Southern and American history as a means to move from awareness to action.

For Anthony L. Clay, the American South is both home and a living classroom. A particular calling is found on the bus, supporting immersive racial justice experiences that have transformed the perspectives of hundreds of student and adult participants.

His Background: Education and Service

Since 2002, he has served the Carolina Friends School community in various teaching and leadership roles—including Director of Advancement, Director of Extended Learning, and now founding head of the Institute for Teaching and Learning.

Anthony earned baccalaureate degrees magna cum laude in History and in International Relations and an Asian Studies Certificate at American University and then completed an M.A. in History and received Phi Beta Kappa honors at Emory University.

He's worked as a teacher (in subjects including U.S. history, government and politics, debate, and economics), college counselor, and advisor at Holland Hall School (Tulsa, Oklahoma), Raleigh Charter High School, Durham Academy, and CFS.

Anthony has served in leadership, advisory, and advocacy roles for non-profits and professional organizations, including Student U, Junior Leadership Durham, Youth Leadership Tulsa, Youth Services of Tulsa, GLSEN, Habitat for Humanity, and the Southern and National Associations for College Admission Counseling.

On the Road: Building the Beloved Community

This Arkansas native's passion for “transformational travel learning” is rooted in his own upbringing and professional journey. Some three decades of research and teaching has focused on the post-World War II intersection of race, culture, and politics. He’s helped create and lead racial justice-focused bus tours of the South for high schoolers and for adults and Durham civil rights programs for students and for adults. Each May he spends a week helping guide CFS Middle Schoolers on a civil rights experience in Alabama and Georgia.

Anthony’s goal is to move beyond names and dates to reveal the human stories that define our collective memory and foster Dr. King’s vision of the Beloved Community.

The tuition will include:

• transportation via air-conditioned charter coach
• five nights of double-occupancy hotel lodging*
• almost all meals
• all admission fees and guest speaker honoraria
• chauffeur gratuity
• on-board live and multi-media programming
• resource materials about tour destinations, civil rights history, contemporary social justice issues, and other relevant topics
• the services of an experienced historian and tour leader

* individual rooms are available for a supplement

The tuition will not include:

• optional evening or other activities
• room service and other hotel incidentals
• alcohol with a meal
• trip/travel insurance

The trip deposit, due upon application, will be non-refundable unless we reach capacity and can fill your space. 

However, we're glad to work with you on alternative financial arrangements.

We'd love to have you and a diverse group of participants "get on board" for this powerful personal and community journey. We may have some tuition assistance funds available to support individuals who couldn't afford to go otherwise.

If you're in a position to do so, a tax-deductible gift added to the overall tuition amount can increase our program funds and expand access. Thanks for your consideration!

Registration will open via a Google form as soon as possible in Fall 2026.

We hope you'll also consider other transformational travel-learning opportunities--for example, the two-day Fall 2026 Racial Myth & Memory experience in Wilmington and the Spring 2027 American Musical Journey to Memphis and Mississippi.

If you'd like us to keep you updated on this and other experiences, please complete this brief notification form.

Explore the history of Quakerism by retracing the 17th-century footsteps of George Fox, founder of the Religious Society of Friends--and of Margaret Fell, an early supporter and later his wife--through the beautiful Lake District of northern England.

And, find adventure, learning, and reflection in community. In addition to being a nourishing experience for us individually, the Journey is a wonderful way to deepen relationships and build a stronger sense of community among F/friends and Friends institutions.

Learn more about the Quaker Journey.

Beloved Community Journey participants and other curious adults can join an immersion experience in Wilmington, exploring historical and contemporary aspects of race through three themes...

• Gullah Geechee and other African-Americans in coastal Carolina 
• the 1898 Wilmington race massacre
• Black Lives Matter and other racial justice efforts

...at multiple historic sites...

• Poplar Grove Plantation
• Bellamy Mansion Museum of History and Design
• 1898 Monument and Memorial Park
• University of North Carolina at Wilmington

Learn more about Racial Myth and Memory: A Wilmington Case Study.