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National Civil Rights
Museum
Memphis,
Shelby County, Tennessee
This
Museum is probably better known as the Assassination Site of
Dr. Martin Luther King. There is a woman, Jacqueline
Smith, who has protested this Museum since the day it was
opened in 1987 and you can find out more about her here:
Fulfill the Dream
I personally find it very interesting that someone would
have enough passion for something they believed in to do
this day after day and year after year.
History
of the Lorraine Hotel, according to brochure facts:
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Originally named the Windsor Hotel c. 1925
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Renamed Marquette Hotel in 1945 and offered for sale
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Purchased by Walter Bailey in 1945 and renamed the Lorraine,
after his wife Loree and a song titled “Sweet Lorraine.” At
the time of purchase the Lorraine included 16 rooms, a café,
and living quarters for the Baileys.
The Lorraine became one of only a few hotels to which
African American travelers could enjoy overnight
accommodations while traveling during this segregated period
leading up to the late 1960s in America.
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Under the Bailey’s ownership there were at least two major
additions to the hotel. The first addition added a second
floor and 12 rooms to the hotel while the next addition
created even more guest rooms and drive up access. This
change converted the Lorraine Hotel into a motel.
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Guests of the Lorraine, both black and white, returned time
and again for its upscale atmosphere, home cooked meals,
including bar-b-que, affordable prices, and its reputation
as a clean and safe environment.
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Song
writers and musicians working with the Stax Records Company
were frequent residents of the Lorraine. Recording stars Ray
Charles, Lionel Hampton, Aretha Franklin, Ethel Waters, Otis
Redding, The Staple Singers and Wilson Picket were among the
many that stayed in the Lorraine during the heyday of the
late 1950s- early 1960s.
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Dr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. stayed at the Lorraine Motel
numerous times. He was a guest of the Lorraine when he came
to Memphis in 1968 in support of striking sanitation
workers.
The Lorraine Motel is designated an historic site by the
Tennessee Historical Commission.
History of
the National Civil Rights Museum
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The National Civil Rights Museum was birthed
out of the success of the civil rights movement and the
tragic violence that occurred at the Lorraine Motel, taking
the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
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The aftershock of the assassination on April
4, 1968 eventually plunged the Lorraine into a long and
steep decline. The motel’s owner, Walter Lane Bailey
maintained two rooms – Rooms 306 & 307 - as a shrine to Dr.
King and in memory of his wife Loree who died days after the
assassination.
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Realizing the symbolic significance of the
Lorraine, Mr. Bailey reached out for help to maintain the
property as a civil rights shrine. He reached out to Mr.
Chuck Scruggs, program director of local radio station WDIA
radio and the Save
The Lorraine campaign
was born.
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A group of prominent Memphians, concerned
that this historical site would be destroyed through
continued neglect and indifference, formed the Martin Luther
King Memorial Foundation and in 1984 changed its name to the
Lorraine Civil Rights Museum Foundation.
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Under the leadership of local attorney and
activist, D’Army Bailey, the Foundation raised enough money
to purchase the property on the courthouse steps at a public
auction for $144,000.
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Using a design report by former Smithsonian
Institution curator, Benjamin Lawless, the Foundation moved
forward to create the educational facility and memorial site
that today is the National Civil Rights Museum.
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The Museum was dedicated on July 4, 1991 and
officially opened to the public on Sept. 28, 1991. Since
opening the museum records more than 5 million to the site.
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In 1999 the Museum acquired properties facing
it, the former Canipe’s Amusement store and rooming house,
which were an integral part of Dr. King’s assassination
investigation. In 1968, James Earl Ray stayed in the rooming
house.
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The museum became custodian of the police and
evidence files associated with the manhunt, indictment and
confession of the assassin of Dr. King. This transfer
affords the National Civil Right Museum the distinction of
being the first museum of its kind to receive evidence
materials and court documents connected with a criminal case
into its collection holdings.
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Opened to the public on Sept. 28, 2002, Exploring
the Legacy, is a 12,800 sq. ft. expansion project aimed
at addressing three key questions: 1) Did the Movement die
with Dr. King? 2) Was James Earl Ray the assassin? and, 3)
What is the legacy of the movement?
The
Courtyard Cars
These two cars represent the original automobiles parked in The
Lorraine Motel Courtyard, on April 4, 1968. Dr. King and his
associates were scheduled to go to dinner in the cars at 5 p.m.
These are not the original cars but a display by Bank of America
to strengthen support of the National Civil Rights Museum and
this exhibit.
Martin
Luther King, Jr.
January 15, 1929 - April 4, 1968
Founding President
Southern Christian Leadership Conference
"They said one to another, behold, here cometh the dreamer...Let
us slay him...and we shall see what will become of his dreams."
Genesis 37:19-20
Ralph David Abernathy, President
"I may
not get there with you but I want you to know that we as a
people will get to the promised land." - Rev. Dr. Martin Luther
King, Mountaintop Speech, April 3, 1968, Memphis.
This
building with the glass structure is the location where
convicted murderer James Earl Ray shot Dr. King. Keep in
mind however, there are as many conspiracy theories as to who
shot Dr. King, as there are for who shot President John F.
Kennedy.
Looking at the hotel from the assassins
viewpoint.
External Links:
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