National Civil Rights Museum

#44 Go to the National Civil Rights Museum. Check! Saturday wasn't too crazy busy, so we decided to take some downtime (rare lately) to tour the museum. I'm glad we did! I'd been outside many times, but had never been in. It was very informative and moving. About a year ago, I met one of Brian's coworkers, Gerald (an older black man in his 60s?), who recommended that we go. He grew up in Memphis and clearly remembers the racism and definitely when Martin Luther King Jr. was shot. I guess it shouldn't have, but somehow this surprised me, because it seems crazy to me that it really wasn't that long ago when there was so much hatred and inequality for blacks. I know we still have a long way to go, but I guess I'm encouraged that in just 2 generations, we have come so far.

tourist shot

just hanging with Rosa 

King was shot in front of room 306

Across the street, there is another part of the museum where James Earl Ray shot from. This was interesting because the exhibits showed a lot of the evidence, and explained how Ray was caught. I wish we hadn't been so hungry, because I think I would have spent more time here. The theories, clues, timeline, and investigations were fascinating.

Here is the (approximate) view of where the shots were fired from. The wreath is where MLK was.

To round out the day, we watched "The Help." Talk about a theme day, huh?!