national civil rights museum

one of the things we had planned to do in memphis of course, was to go to the martin luther king site. there is the national civil rights museum there now, and the front of the site has been preserved as it looked on that day. the day we went, it turned out to be closed that day, so we went back the next day which turned out to be the anniversary of his death. there was media there, and they had actors doing performances in the museum (maybe that is always there, but it seemed like it was for the anniversary...i don't know!) it was a very moving exhibit, and it was very extensive. we thought it would take at the most 2 hours, but maybe two and a half hours later, we had gotten to the site that was the hotel room that dr. martin luther king jr. had occupied that day...it is totally preserved and looks like it did that terrible day. the museum takes you through an amazingly extensive trip of the history of the fight for freedom... through the times of slavery, the protests, the bus boycotts, the sit-ins, the marches, and on and on...so much information, and so touching and beautifully done. so sad to see that people can treat others like they have for the color of their skin.

they do not allow cameras in the museum, so i only have the shots of the outside. the motel is the facade of the museum, and it is waaaay bigger than it looks in the photo. and after you are done in that building, you go across the street to yet another part, that was the rooming house where james earl ray fired the shots that took dr. king's life. the photo with the image of the black gate with the writing on it is the entrance to the tunnel to the second half of the museum. it is mostly about the parts involving the assassin. we kind of 'flew' through this part of the exhibit, as we had booked a tour for graceland for later in the day...we did not anticipate the museum taking that long. if we had it to do again, we would definately have dedicated an entire day to see the museum, and also for graceland.

i will post more later, about graceland and some of the other stuff we did...i have a deadline for a dress that has to be sewed AND shipped before 4pm today, and here i am playing with the computer. shhh! don't tell anyone!