A Nation in Four Movements

The National Pilgrimage is a journey into the heart of the nation. The route allows us to weave a shared story between metro areas and our countryside, between blue and red states, and invites us to love the nation together. It's all of it, all of us, with the focus on the middle spaces, the liminal between places, the beautiful, broken, beating heart of the nation.

We began in rural New York State, the birthplace of democracy, before heading through Philadelphia into the heart of the Civil Rights south. From here we ventured north through Tennessee and Missouri, making our way as far west at Yellowstone, as far north as Minneapolis, and landing our journey in Chicago for July 4th and the National Assembly, July 6-9, 2026. If you'd like to go deeper, you can read A Nation in Four Movements.

Movement One: The Birthplace of Democracy

We explored the indigenous roots of democracy, the Suffrage Movement, Underground Railroad, and our founding documents. We created space for children to engage with these difficult issues.
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Route: New York - Pennsylvania - Virginia

  • 6/10- Susan B. Anthony House, Frederick Douglass's grave and Gonandagan Seneca Art & Cultural Center
  • 6/11 - Seneca Falls, NY: Women's Rights National Historic Park and 1848 Convention Session and National Women's History Museum; Auburn, NY: Harriett Tubman's home and grave
  • 6/12 - Scranton, PA: Waverly Destination Freedom Underground Railroad
  • 6/13 -  Philadelphia, PA: Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, US Constitution Center
  • 6/14 - Shenandoah River Valley, VA: James Madison’s Montpelier
  • 6/15 - Floyd, VA: Floyd’s Country Store, Booker T. Washington Birthplace

Movement Two: The Civil Rights Trail

We explore our original sin, slavery, and it’s lasting impacts.
Route: North Carolina - Alabama - Tennessee - Missouri - Nebraska
  • 6/16 - Birmingham, AL: Civil Rights Heritage Trail, Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame
  • 6/17 - Tupelo, MS: Elvis' childhood home, Memphis, TN: National Civil Rights Museum and blues on Beale Street
  • 6/18 - St. Louis, MO: Cahokia, Old Courthouse
  • 6/19 - Drive to Cheyenne, WY
  • 6/20 - Juneteenth Celebration in Cheyenne

Movement Three: Indigenous Soul

Description: We explore Lakota culture, indigenous spirituality, and our nation’s best idea - National Parks. We visit with our National Mammal, the bison.
Route: Wyoming - Montana - South Dakota
  • 6/20 - Devil's Tower, WY: All Nation’s Prayer Gathering of Ohcethi Sako’win (Seven Council Fires) in Mato Tipila
  • 6/21 - 3:30am sunrise hike and ceremonies All Nation’s Prayer Gathering at Mato Tipila
  • 6/22 - Cody, WY: Buffalo Bill Center of the West, camp in Yellowstone
  • 6/23 - Lamar Valley, bison herds, afternoon hike
  • 6/24 - Morning hike (9-11am MT) and camp at Greasy Grass
  • 6/25 - 150th Anniversary Commemoration of Battle of Little Big Horn (Custer's Last Stand) and Inipi ceremony
  • 6/26 - Drive to Crazy Horse and camp at Black Hills 
  • 6/27 - Wind Cave National Park
  • 6/28 - Jewel Cave and Wounded Knee, camp at Badlands National Park
  • 6/29 - Visit Keepers of the Sacred Pipe and Pipestone National Monument and camp in Pipestone, MN

Movement Four: The American Century

Description: We honor the lives of those lost to illegal and racist police violence, the beauty of our architecture, Black culture, food, baseball, blues, and spirituality. We explore the City of Broad Shoulders, the scale and impact of the American Century.
Route: Minnesota - Wisconsin - Illinois
  • 6/30 - Minneapolis, MN: Vigils for Philando Castile, George Floyd, Renee Good, and Alex Pretti, Mill City
  • 7/1 - Mall of America, drive to Milwaukee, Bayview Labor, Immigration and Civil Rights Tour with Professor T. 
  • 7/2 - Drive to near Chicago, Gichigamiin Indigenous Nation's Museum
  • 7/3 - American Writers’ Museum, Chicago Architecture Boat Tour, walk the Riverfront, dinner and blues at Kingston Mines
  • 7/4 - Chicago History Museum, July 4th on Chicago Lake Front
  • 7/5 - Quinn Chapel A.M.E. Church at 10am in Bronzeville; Cubs vs. Cardinals at Wrigley Field
  • 7/6 - DuSable Museum, Obama Presidential Library, Ida B. Wells National Monument, Mamie and Emmett Till National Monument, and National Assembly (virtual part 1) 
  • 7/7 - Greektown and Museum of Science and Industry, and National Assembly (virtual part 2)
  • 7/8 -  Jane Addams Hull House and Chess Records / Willie Dixon Blues Heaven Museum
  • 7/9 - Irish-American Heritage Center: Reflect, recount and celebrate the Pilgrimage, read aloud the new "Moral Vision for the Next 250"
  • 7/10 - Go home​

Food for a New Moral Vision

Let's love this country back together.

The National Pilgrimage is a non-partisan initiative fiscally sponsored by The Outlands, a 501(c)(3) organization. Led by a volunteer team of artists, community leaders, and documentary filmmakers, the project generated a new moral vision for the United States of America through reckoning, relationship-building, and collective dreaming.

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