National Civil Rights Museum

Heading from Santa Fe back to the south, I passed through Memphis, Tennessee. There, I visited the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel, which has recently reopened after being closed due to Covid.

Entrance

The Lorraine Motel is the location where civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. was shot and killed. The facade for the motel is preserved intact, complete with the original signage, some 60’s era automobiles, and a wreath marking where King fell. But built around the side and back of the old motel is a state-of-the-art museum chronicling the history of civil rights in America, from the first African slaves to more modern black joy movements.

The Lorraine Motel looks the same as it did when King was assassinated

You enter the National Civil Rights Museum through a modern entrance to the side. It’s filled with light and a large-scale sculpture called “Movement to Overcome” suggesting the overwhelming upward climb of the civil rights struggle.

Lobby and Movement to Overcome sculpture

Slavery in America

After checking in at the desk, you’re guided to a room depicting the practice of bringing Africans to America for slave labor. Full-size statues of men bound in slave ships are in one alcove. A woman holding her baby is auctioned off in the middle of the room. Around the room are African artifacts and farm labor displays. A map on the floor shows the forced removal of Africans across the oceans.

This first room starts with Africa and the American slave trade

This room ends up being a holding room for a film that sets up the rest of your journey through the museum. It’s a very well-laid-out timeline. And the varying nature of the displays keeps it interesting throughout.

The Jim Crow Era

If I remember correctly, the film brings the history along from 1800’s slavery, through abolition, reconstruction, and into the 1950’s-60’s Jim Crow era. After the film, you are led (in a spectacular reveal) to a room with a brief overview of laws & practices created to subjugate the black population. Unfair voting laws, maps of lynching and population disparity line the walls.

Maps illustrate the subjugation of blacks in America

On the other side, a chapel with church pews has a repeating film on school segregation. Also in this area are contrasted the varying responses to unfair treatment, from “race first” movements (like Malcolm X) to accommodation or integration.

The different ways to address racism – race first, accommodation, and integration

Protest

Next, you’re led into rooms depicting the Montgomery bus boycott of 1955, student sit-ins, and the attack on a Freedom Riders’ bus. These rooms are really visceral – walk on the bus and you can hear Rosa Parks get yelled at. You leave the room with the boycotters. The Freedom Riders’ bus is on (pretend) fire.

Rosa Parks on the bus while boycotters exit the room

A student sit-in and a destroyed Freedom Riders’ bus

And you can get involved yourself – my favorite room hosts a loop of civil rights songs with words to sing along with.

Then there are hallways about children’s marches and the 54-mile march from Selma to Montgomery, AL, and the infamous Bloody Sunday. In one room, Martin Luther King Jr.’s moving “I Have a Dream” speech plays to a crowd on repeat.

Marches, speeches, and protest for the right to vote

Black Pride

Climbing through the next hallway is a celebration of the Black Pride movement in the ’70s. Included is a really fun station with records that you can actually play!

MLK’s Assassination

At the top of the ramp is a room explaining the Memphis sanitation worker’s strike in 1968, where men picketed with large signs proclaiming, “I AM a Man”. It is this strike that put Martin Luther King Jr. in Memphis at the Lorraine Motel on April 4, where he was fatally shot on the balcony of the motel.

The tour leads you from the striker’s room into the actual preserved motel room where King was staying when he died. Silence is preserved in this part of the museum.

MLK’s room, the balcony where he was killed and King’s family at the funeral

Exit and Gift Shop

You exit into an excellent gift shop, a level above where you first entered the museum. And don’t sleep on the gift shop either. There’s a huge collection of books and lots of just really fun everyday stuff. There are some great home decor goods in there. I ended up buying a fantastic pair of gloves. And the book selection is very comprehensive.

Visiting

When I was there, the Legacy Building across the street was still closed. If it’s open when you visit, the story continues with more milestone events of the civil rights movement.

The Legacy Building across from the Lorraine (that gate in the wall there)

Generous free parking is next to the Lorraine Motel, as well as on the surrounding streets. There are also plenty of places to eat in the immediate area, including a BBQ place right next to the parking lot. There was also a gas station close by when I needed one. Otherwise, you’re pretty much right downtown Memphis. Anything you want shouldn’t be too far away.

To visit currently, you must purchase a timed ticket online prior to your arrival and wear a mask while you’re inside. Hours are 9-5, Thursday – Monday. Cost is $17 and under per person.

Balcony of the Lorraine where King was shot and killed

Having visited other civil rights sights, especially through Alabama, I found that this museum really ties everything together in such a cohesive way. I would recommend a visit to anyone. This is a “destination attraction” – one that you should definitely travel for.