Join S.H.A.P.E. Community Center as we send 50 young people and elders on an immersive 7-day journey through Alabama’s Black Belt, Gulf Coast, and Industrial Heartlands to honor the foot soldiers of the Civil Rights Movement and bring history to life.

What is The Freedom Tour? 

For the past 30 years, S.H.A.P.E. Community Center has taken youth and elders on The Freedom

Tour, a 7-day pilgrimage across the Deep South to visit significant landmarks and historical sites from

the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 60s.

The trip seeks to honor the spirit and efforts of the “foot soldiers” --often the young people of their

communities--and symbolically re-traces their footsteps.

As Marcus Garvey once said, “A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin, and culture

is like a tree without roots.” The Freedom Tour preserves and passes on that knowledge, creating a

deeply rooted connection to Black history & culture.

 

Freedom Tour 2026: Road to Alabama

Many consider Alabama to be the birthplace of the Voting Rights Movement. Freedom Tour 2026: The

Road to Alabama transforms what was traditionally a 7-day survey of Civil Rights history across

multiple states, into an immersive, 7-day deep dive into the region’s unique role and immense

contributions to the Movement.

We will:

 Continue the Freedom Tour’s 30-year tradition of recreating the March on Selma across the

Edmund Pettus Bridge.

 Learn about sharecropping, agri-business & explore the Quilting Capital of the South in

Gee’s Bend, AL.

 Discover Black Mardi Gras culture & view the wreckage of Clotilda: the last known U.S.

slave ship in Mobile, AL.

 And so much more!

Apply As a Student

If your child is ready for a transformative summer experience rooted in Black history, culture, leadership, and intergenerational learning, the Freedom Tour is for them.
Students ages 11–16 can apply now and prepare through the Summer Freedom Institute before traveling in late July.

STUDENT/CHILD APPLICATION

Apply As a Parent/Guardian

Adult travelers participate in all core Freedom Tour activities, including site visits, daily debriefs, and community-building sessions. They are expected to model leadership, uphold group agreements, and collaborate with staff to ensure a safe, supportive experience for all.

PARENT GUARDIAN APPLICATION

Apply to Be a Chaperone

We welcome adults who are committed to youth, community, and liberation work, and who can move with care, patience, and accountability. Ideal chaperones are:

  • Responsible and reliable, with experience working with young people or community groups.

  • Able to follow and enforce group guidelines and safety protocols.

  • Comfortable traveling by bus/van and maintaining a full, structured daily schedule.

  • Ready to participate fully in activities, site visits, and debriefs (not just “watching from the sidelines”).

  • Open to learning, listening, and growing alongside the young people and elders on the journey.

chaperone application

Join Us at a Summer Event

Save the Dates!

Help us with final preparations before our big trip at the Community Send-off at 7pm on Friday, July 24 at S.H.A.P.E.’s Harambee Building – 3909 Almeda Rd.

Welcome our youth and elders back while hearing about their experiences at The Freedom Tour Family Reunion at 5pm on Saturday, August 15 at S.H.A.P.E.’s Harambee Building – 3909 Almeda Rd.

 

Calling All Freedom Tour Alumni!

Remember that time, on The Freedom Tour? When you stayed in a hotel for the first time, sat on the bus next to someone you can still call or text to this day, or gained a critical perspective on your history or culture that you hadn’t learned before or since?

Being a Freedom Tour alum makes you a direct beneficiary of our ancestor’s efforts, and an inheritor of a long & beautiful tradition of community organizing. Even if you only went once, you’re connected to this “family of interdependence” forever!

We’re getting in contact with Freedom Tour alumni from throughout its 30-year history to support an ongoing effort to:

  • Restore and preserve our collective memory and build a Freedom Tour Archive.

  • Gain inspirational and actionable insights about how the Freedom Tour has impacted your personal growth or political consciousness.

  • Formalize a network of support around this beloved program.

How to help:

 

SUPPORT THE FREEDOM TOUR

A $500 gift sends one child on the Freedom Tour as a Freedom Conductor sponsor.
That means meals, lodging, transportation, activities, and access to a transformational experience rooted in Civil Rights history and Black cultural legacy.
Sponsor a student and help place this journey directly in a young person’s hands.

View Sponsor Letter