On the anniversary of one of my heroes, Dr Martin Luther King, let's honour not just his memory and achievements in the Civil Rights Movement, but also the places he visited and the things that influenced him.
The deep south doesn't need to be a blood-soaked voyage into the depths of human savagery. While I applauded people walking in the footsteps of extraordinary people who fought for equality and learning lessons from history by visiting plantations. There's a whole region full remarkable music and writing talent waiting to be explored.
I would begin my journey by flying into San Francisco with its bohemian, café culture at Haight-Ashbury. The idea that I’ll be sharing the same space as the radical hippies in the 60s, Beatnik writers and revolutionary politicians like Harvey Milk is exciting, inspirational and intriguing. And obviously take the obligatory selfies outside Mrs Doubtfire’s house, paying homage to screen legend Robin Williams.
While most people dream of riding Route 66 on a Harley, the dream of a literary lover and jazz fanatic is slightly different. There’s only one place I'd want to travel around, the Deep South, my chosen two cities being Memphis, Tennessee and Montgomery, Alabama.
Starting in Oklahoma City, I can get to grips with America’s pre-colonised history. Visiting the reservations of native Indians and understand what John Steinbeck was talking about in one of the greatest books ever written, The Grapes of Wrath.
Then head to Louisiana and take in the region that gave us delta blues, ragtime jazz and gospel. New Orleans is truly intoxicating, however it’s the regions outside NOLA that I’m interested in. Boating through the Bayou and touring the plantations around Baton Rouge, following in the footsteps of Solomon Northup in his harrowing account as a free man taken back into slavery in his novel 12 Years A Slave – which went on to become on the of best movies of the last decade by genius Steve McQueen, winning an Oscar and making me swell with British pride (from an artistic viewpoint) to boot.
Followed by a trip through the much talked about Mississippi. A state that was so important during slavery, the American civil war and the last to abolish prohibition. Also, it’s where Nobel prize winner William Faulkner lived. I’m sure I can teach the locals a thing or two about drinking. And it has a river called Yazoo, how can you go wrong?!
Then we're into Alabama. The part of the trip I'm most excited about. The state boasts my first chosen city, Montgomery. It has so much to offer with its homage to Scott Fitzgerald and The Great Gatsby, being the birthplace of soul where Aretha recorded and where Elvis, the king of rock n roll, lived. But, more importantly, it’s where my hero Martin Luther King was a pastor and where Rosa Parks sat in the wrong seat on a bus and sparked the civil rights movement. Followed by a trip to seminal Selma – perhaps I'll even march in solidarity with the current victims of racial inequality in America.
A trip to Alabama wouldn't be complete without a visit to Monroeville, to see where literary must-read To Kill a Mockingbird was set and to visit Harper Lee’s house and also pay tribute her best friend and neighbour, author behind In Cold Blood, Truman Capote.
I'll round off the trip in my second chosen city, Memphis. It’s a city that gave the world modern music. Without Memphis there would be no Aretha Franklin, Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, Booker T, Otis Redding, BB King or Sam & Dave. It will also take everything I have not to spend the duration here singing Walking in Memphis in the voice of Cher.
Lastly, I'll finish in South Carolina. Purely as nod to my British roots in this ex-colony. And see the place where one of my philosophy heroes John Locke wrote the constitution.
