Memphis & Mississippi Tour Overview
“The seven wonders of the world I’ve seen, and many are the places I have been. Take my advice, folks, and see Beale Street first!”
We invite you to take the advice of the great bluesman W.C. Handy on this new Classical Pursuits tour. Memphis, Tennessee, is a charming, complicated, and consequential place. Memphis and North Mississippi were ground zero to America’s original sin of slavery and its long Jim Crow–era aftermath. It is an awful irony that so much great art was borne of the suffering that bigotry visited upon so many people. But there is much to learn about the human spirit from those who experienced and bore witness to it.
Guiding us in our inquiry are four powerful chroniclers of the post-Reconstruction South: Ida B. Wells, Richard Wright, Martin Luther King, Jr., and William Faulkner. Through seminar discussions led by Memphis native and longtime Great Books leader John Riley, we’ll read these writers with a specific focus on the issue of race and racism, and how it dominated the perceptions and fears of generations of Southerners.
Memphis is one of the great music cities of the world, a place where urban and rural, sacred and secular, Black and white, affluence and poverty, grief and joy all found unforgettable expression. Visits to Sun Studio, the Stax Museum, Royal Studios, Beale Street, and other music landmarks trace how blues, gospel, soul, rock ’n’ roll, and rhythm and blues moved from churches, front porches, neighbourhood clubs, and small studios to songs that changed popular culture. Along the way, you will encounter the worlds of Elvis Presley, Otis Redding, Al Green, and many others.
Begin on Beale Street, and discover how much of America can be heard, read, and reckoned with in Memphis.
Memphis & Mississippi Itinerary at a Glance
Day 1: Arrive in Memphis / opening discussion / welcome dinner
Day 2: Seminar + visit to the National Civil Rights Museum / Sun Studios
Day 3: The NCRM continued / Withers collection
Day 4: Royal Studios and Stax Museum of American Soul Music / barbecue lunch / Mississippi River cruise
Day 5: Day out to Oxford, Mississippi and Faulkner home Rowan Oak
Day 6: Departure
Accommodation
Arrive Hotel, Memphis
Readings
All Classical Pursuits tours include readings that we send directly to you, and that help you connect more deeply with the places you’ll see and the people you’ll meet on the tour. On this tour we will read:
- Selections by Ida B. Wells
- “Dry September” and excerpts from Light in August and Go Down, Moses by William Faulkner
- “Sword That Heals,” “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop,” “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” by Martin Luther King, Jr.
- Short selections by Richard Wright
Practical Details and Next Steps
Requesting an itinerary is a great way to help decide if this tour is for you. We’re also available to talk by email at info@classicalpursuits.com or on the phone toll-free at (844) 869-1001.
Once you’re ready to book, our colleague Abbie at our partner Worldwide Quest is happy to get you started with information about putting down a deposit and the tour payment schedule. You can reach her at abbie@worldwidequest.com or 1-800-387-1483. Classical Pursuits offers a number of pre-tour online experiences for each tour, all of which are free or deeply discounted for tour participants.
You can also book online here.
All Classical Pursuits tours are sold by and operate through our longtime partner Worldwide Quest, a licensed Ontario tour operator and an IATA Accredited Agent that was created in 1970 (as Quest Nature Tours and Worldwide Adventures). All participants on Classical Pursuits trips are covered by the terms of the Ontario Travel Industry Act (Worldwide Quest Inc., Ontario License #2667946).
