The National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee

The Lorraine Hotel is the site of

Martin Luther King Jr.'s

assassination on April 4, 1968.

It is the home of the National Civil Rights Museum.

The Red & White Wreath marks the

spot where Martin Luther King

Jr. was shot.

The Lorraine Motel was one of the few hotels in Memphis that allowed Black guests.  It hosted Cab Calloway, Aretha Franklin, Count Basie, B.B. King, and Nat King Cole.  

This historic Motel was saved from bankruptcy in 1982 and converted into the National Civil Rights Museum.

Slavery in the US started in 1619.

The brilliant light on the deck

 of a Slave Ship.

The figures below deck, in

near-total darkness, are

Slaves.

Slaves were not seen as human.

Selling them was big business.

During the years of the Slave Trade, over 12 million Africans were moved across the Atlantic Ocean. This is the largest forced migration in human history.

By the early 1800s Abolitionists were working to end the practice of Slavery.  

"A house divided against itself cannot stand.  I believe this government cannot endure half slave and half free..."  Abraham Lincoln, 1858

Lincoln's election in 1860 was followed by the secession of Southern States and the first battle of the Civil War on April 12.1861.

In the four years of War 620,000 Union and Confederate Soldiers were wounded or killed.  

On January 3, 1863, The Emancipation Proclamation declared that people held as Slaves in the rebellious States were freed.  Slavery was abolished on December 6, 1865, with the passage of the 13th Amendment.  The 14th Amendment granted citizenship to all people born and naturalized in the United States, including former Slaves.

The gains made immediately after the Civil War evaporated and former Slave States instituted Jim Crow Laws to make sure that Blacks were separate from all other Americans in public spaces, education, and housing.  Blacks Voters were intimidated, beaten, and killed.  Literacy Tests and Poll Taxes were enacted to keep Blacks from participating in elections and serving in Public Offices.

The National Civil Rights Museum shows the enormous efforts by many to be paid fair wages, have equal travel accommodations, equal treatment in restaurants, in movie theaters, equal access to voting, and equal rights as Citizens of the United States.

I grew up in the early 1960s watching Black People being beaten by Police Officers; watching Police Dogs attack Civil Rights Protestors; and Fire Hoses were used to stop people marching for Equal Rights.  

Here are some of the many actions Black Americans participated in efforts to exercise their Civil Rights.

              The Montgomery Bus Boycott lasted from December 5, 1955 to December 20, 1956                          following Rosa Parks' arrest for not moving to the back of the bus.

President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act in 1964.  The Law prohibits discrimination in public spaces, provided for the integration of schools, and other public facilities, and made discrimination in employment illegal.

       Six-year-old Ruby Bridges integrates William J. Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans

          on November 14, 1960.  The Grey Suits in this Norman Rockwell painting are the

             Federal Agents tasked with guarding Ruby as she walks past angry 

    crowds cursing and hurling threats at her.

Meanwhile, in cities and towns across the South Civil Rights Activists and citizens were protesting for their Civil Rights and standing up to violence as they advanced their cause.  

Three times Civil Rights Marchers met in Selma and started marching to Montgomery, the

 Capital of Alabama to protest for Voting Rights from late February to late March 1965.  

Each time the Marchers were met at the Edmund Pettis Bridge by armed Police. During the second March, John Lewis, leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee was beaten by Police and hospitalized with a fractured skull.

The violent scenes Americans witnessed on TV caused nationwide outrage.  The third March, which started on March 21, 1965, was protected by Federalized Alabama National Guardsmen and FBI agents.

President Lyndon B. Johnson signed The Civil Rights Act on July 2, 1964.  The Law prohibits discrimination in public spaces; provided for the integration of schools; and other public facilities, and made discrimination in employment illegal.

The Voting Rights Act was signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson on August 6, 1965.

The Memphis Sanitation Workers' Strike began on February 12, 1968 for better working

conditions and increased pay.  Martin Luther King, Jr. arrived in Memphis to support 

the Strikers.  He was assassinated by James Earl Ray at the Lorraine Motel.

The fight for Equal Rights under the Law continues.  Workers' Rights and the Right to Unionize are under attack across the Country.  The run-up to the 2024 Elections has been marked by Voter Purges and last-minute changes to Election Laws.  

As we strive to become a more Perfect Union, challenges remain and we Americans are up to the challenges ahead.