ATLANTA (AP) – Tom Houck, who drove Martin Luther King Jr. and his family around Atlanta during the Civil Rights Movement, is reopening his Civil Rights Tours Atlanta bus tours after it was closed during the pandemic.
The restart of the tours signals the slow return of tourism associated with the civil rights movement in Atlanta, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
It comes as more Americans are vaccinated against COVID-19, even though vaccination rates in Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and other southern states lag behind other parts of the nation.
“While Georgia isn’t high on the list, the vaccine played an important role in my decision to reopen,” said Houck. “I feel good about it.”
At the National Center for Civil and Human Rights downtown, attendance increased 5% in the past few weeks, said Chief Operating Officer Donald Byrd. Last Saturdays saw the highest attendance since it reopened last September, he said.
The APEX Museum on Auburn Avenue has also seen an increase in visitor numbers since it reopened.
“Last year was the best year we’ve had in 42 years,” said Dan Moore, the museum’s founder and president. “We’re starting a lot of new projects and people are really interested in learning more about our history and culture.”
The story is not the same at the Martin Luther King Jr. Historical Park, where many sites remain closed. The King Birth Home, Fire House and the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church are still closed to visitors to the park, which is part of the National Park Service.
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