Road trip the United States’ most important cultural milestones
If you’re an Elvis fan and you’re feeling all shook up, it’s little wonder – the ‘King of Rock ‘n’ Roll’ would have turned 90 this year.
And while the whole world will don blue suede shoes and dance to his success, there’s nothing like being on Elvis’ home turf in Mississippi and Tennessee to really celebrate his heavenly birthday.
But it’s not just Elvis that the United States is paying tribute to in 2025. America marks some significant milestones this year – especially in The South.
Blues maestro BB King would have had his 100th birthday in 2025, as would equal rights activist Malcolm X, who was assassinated 60 years ago.
And it will be 70 years since 14-year-old Black boy Emmett Till was murdered for winking at a white woman. His death sparked America’s civil rights movement.
The best way to experience these highs and lows of American history is on a road trip through Tennessee and Mississippi along the Blues Highway and Civil Rights Highway. From the soulful blues to the pivotal moments of the civil rights movement, each stop offers a chance to celebrate or learn and reflect on the people and events that have shaped the United States.
Memphis, Tennessee
It all begins in Memphis at Graceland, where Elvis Presley’s legendary home draws crowds to rival those in Disneyland theme parks.
You might picture his home to be as big and grand as the superstar he was, but Graceland, by today’s standards, is surprisingly modest – much like his humble nature.
The decor, however, gives away his star status. It’s all 1970s glitz and glamor, from the white grand piano, crystal chandeliers and TVs in every room, to the canary yellow bar, fabric-lined pool room and his jungle den.
You learn about his life, music and legacy as you explore the mansion, car collection and the Meditation Garden where he is buried. The reaction from fans varies from huge smiles to tear-soaked cheeks.
While we’re celebrating Elvis, my knees went weak at Sun Studios, where Elvis recorded his first song. Standing where he stood behind a microphone as a shy 18-year-old is pretty surreal. I wonder if he was thinking, "It’s now or never," or if he knew it was just a matter of time before he would be discovered.
Tupelo, Mississippi
Travel time: 90 minutes from Memphis
Tupelo is the tiny town where Elvis was born on 8 January, 1935, and it’s where he is still King, 90 years on.
Sitting on the porch of the tiny two-room cottage where Elvis was born doesn’t feel real. You can imagine Gladys, his mum, rocking him to sleep on the swing.
This home is not on the grand scale of Graceland in Memphis, but the impact it has on Elvis fans feels much larger.
Elvis’s father, Vernon, built the modest two-room house. This is where Gladys laid Elvis to sleep in the bottom drawer of a dressing table. And it’s where she mourned the death of his twin brother, Jesse.
You can walk through the tiny cottage. Unlike at Graceland, there might only be a few visitors here with you, listening to local tour guide Miss Shelby talk about such humble beginnings for a superstar.
She’ll tell you about the church next door where Elvis first sang gospel music and dreamed of being in a church quartet, and how Elvis loved his deep Southern roots so much that he gave the earnings from his 1956 Homecoming Concert in Tupelo to the city to create a park for children and to buy his old house and look after it.
Elvis loved his deep Southern roots so much that he gave the earnings from his 1956 Homecoming Concert in Tupelo to the city to create a park for children.
That was the start of the Elvis Presley Birthplace and Museum, where we are right now.
The streets of Tupelo are lined with guitars and information about Elvis’ early years. The Tupelo Hardware Company, where Gladys bought Elvis his first guitar when he turned 11, is still open.
You can sit in Elvis’ favorite booth at Johnnie’s Drive-In diner and even eat his regular order – an RC Cola and a dough burger. It’s not great, but times were tough when Elvis was a teen, so dough was added to hamburger patties to make the meat go further.
You can even hold Elvis’ hand – a life-size statue of him reaching out to his fans stands on the old Tupelo Fairgrounds, where his Homecoming concert took place.
And when the sun is setting and the visitors have all gone, you can go back to Elvis’ cottage and rock to and fro on the porch swing. I bet you’ll shed a few tears.
Oxford, Mississippi
Travel time: One hour from Tupelo
Our road trip takes a literary and educational detour in Oxford, famous for being the home of the University of Mississippi (‘Ole Miss’) and Nobel Prize-winning author William Faulkner.
Ole Miss may feel familiar, thanks to two American football movies – The Blind Side (2009) and It’s Time (2020).
Tour the historic campus to get a taste of college life and then duck into the neighboring Faulkner Museum, Rowan Oak to see what inspired William Faulkner’s award-winning Southern musings.
Greenwood, Mississippi
Travel time: 90 minutes from Oxford
Greenwood is the town that time has not forgotten. Its story, centered in the heart of the Mississippi Delta, stretches back centuries but the beautifully preserved buildings bely their age.
‘Birthplace of the blues’ and the ‘cotton capital of the world’ are two claims to fame.
Blues music is said to have begun in the harsh conditions of those cotton fields and the city was home to blues legends like Honeyboy Edwards and Robert Johnson, considered two of the greatest blues artists of all time.
Greenwood boasts several stops along the Mississippi Blues Trail.
Baptist Town, a neighborhood steeped in blues music and black history, and Elks Hart Lodge No. 640 – where the likes of BB King and James Brown performed – are just a few.
Blues music is said to have begun in the harsh conditions of those cotton fields and the city was home to blues legends like Honeyboy Edwards and Robert Johnson.
At the intersection of Money Road and Route 61 is the Robert Johnson Blues Trail marker. According to legend, this is where Johnson made a deal with the devil, exchanging his soul for mastery of the guitar.
Just north of Greenwood is the tiny town of Money. There’s not much here now save the ruins of Bryant’s Grocery store and an important marker on The Mississippi Freedom Trail. This is where, 70 years ago, the American Civil Rights Movement began. But it came at a terrible cost – the murder of 14-year-old Emmett Till, a charismatic Black boy who dared to smile at the shopkeeper’s wife.
Till was abducted by Carolyn Bryant’s husband and half-brother, tortured and his body thrown into the Tallahatchie River. The two men were tried and somehow acquitted, but later sold their murder confession to Look magazine.
During the 1960s, Greenwood was a hotbed of civil rights activity, including visits by Martin Luther King. More recently, movies like The Help, which was filmed here, took up the civil rights mantle, shining a light on the days of segregation and putting the new Greenwood on the map.
Indianola, Mississippi
Travel time: 40 minutes from Greenwood
The ‘King of Blues’, BB King, would have turned 100 this year. There’s no better place to celebrate than in his hometown of Indianola at the BB King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center.
The museum follows Riley B King’s journey, from his poor childhood in the Mississippi Delta cotton fields to the legendary blues performer he became.
Clarksdale, Mississippi
Travel time: One hour from Indianola
Clarksdale is as gritty as the blues music that made it famous. Thousands flock here every year for the blues music festivals and The Delta Blues Museum, where BB King’s 100th birthday party continues. The museum is a tribute to all the blues music legends, including Muddy Waters – and Ike Turner, who was born in Clarksdale.
Their guitars, records, clothes and photographs on show capture the soul of the blues.
Just outside the museum is Ground Zero Blues Club. From the outside, it looks like an abandoned building but inside, this juke joint – owned by Hollywood star Morgan Freeman – is alive with the blues and Southern hospitality.
Return to Memphis
Travel time: 90 minutes from Clarksdale
Our last stop is back in Memphis where it all culminates with tributes to the fight for freedom and musical genius.
A visit to the National Civil Rights Museum is a must. The museum documents the past and present with the hope of creating a positive future in the fight for equality.
A visit to the National Civil Rights Museum is a must.
Built around the historic Lorraine Motel where civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr was assassinated, the location alone is confronting. What’s inside is shocking. Slavery, segregation, student boycotts, black power, assassinations – it’s all detailed through the stories of people like Malcolm X, who would have turned 100 had he not been killed 60 years ago because of his fight for equality ‘by any means necessary’.
End the trip with a musical high on Beale Street. It doesn’t matter what night you visit, it’s always lively. Check out Rum Boogie Cafe, Blues Hall Juke Joint, Silky O’Sullivan’s or my favorite, BB King’s Blues Club. His 100th birthday celebrations will last all year.