Walking in Memphis

NATIONAL CIVIL RIGHTS MUSEUM

Memphis is a great walking city, which is just as well given the quality and scale of the food available. From the Arcade it is a short stroll to what was the Lorraine Motel, where MLK was shot in April 1968 whilst in Memphis supporting a strike against racist working conditions. The site is now the home of the National Civil Rights Museum and the museum itself wraps around the rooms where King and his entourage stayed, including a glass wall onto Room 306 itself.

is evocatively told with exhibits including a replica of the bus Rosa Parks rode in Montgomery. Outside, the façade of the motel has been kept as it was in 1968, even down to replicas of the cars parked in front of the building when the famous images were taken of a sticken Dr King lying on the motel balcony. A wreath marks the spot where he was standing. Across the street can be seen the boarding house from where the fatal shot was allegedly fired by James Earl Ray. It took two months to track Ray down and it may surprise some to learn that he was actually arrested at Heathrow Airport attempting to fly to southern Africa. He later denied firing the shot, and conspiracy theories have surrounded the assassination ever since.

Overall, as sad and damning as some of the exhibits are, the lasting impression is an uplifting one. It may have taken far too long, and more is yet to be done, but we are happily light years away from the overt racial discrimination that took Dr. King to Memphis in the first place.