Our second stop today couldn’t have been more different to Graceland: The National Civil Rights Museum 
has been set up in the Lorraine Motel where the Rev Dr. Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated on April 4th 1968.
The museum is a fascinating look at the struggle to end segregation and bring equality to the United States; it includes hundreds of newspaper articles, photos and exhibits plus an audio tour and videos – even though we allowed over 4 hours (and I didn’t really think we’d need more than 2), we could both have spent several more just walking round reading.
Although some of the articles made for quite uncomfortable reading, the majority of the writing portrayed everything in as positive way as possible (minimal emphasis on the KKK and the Black Panthers , much more being made about the peaceful protests and JFK’s support for example)
It was interesting to see famous events,such as the arrest of Rosa Parks , told from the point of view of the actual participants but, for me, the real success of the museum was how it linked all these events into a timeline that explained how and why many of the events escalated and why ordinary people went to such lengths and took so many personal risks to claim their rights – James Meredith in particular stood out for me; the first black student to attend the University of Mississippi, his application took 2 years and the intervention of the Attourney General before it was accepted and his first days attendance was met with mobs, guns and required the National Guard and US Marshalls to stop rioting that killed two people (two armed guards protected him every day of the two semesters he attended the University). He graduated in 1963 with a degree in Political Science.
In addition, the museum itself is not without controversy…
Jacqueline Smith was evicted from the Lorraine Motel when it was bought by the foundation and has been protesting outside everyday since the 12th January 1988 – over 23 years so far. She objects to both the content of the museum and the use of tens of millions of dollars by the foundation to create the exhibits and buy the building opposite (where the shot is claimed to have been fired from – I think this makes conspiracy #4 in our current trip) whilst simultaneously displacing residents and pricing them out of their old neighbourhood… Whether or not she has a point about the latter is a discussion for another day but personally I found it one of the most interesting museums we’ve been to so far (although as cameras were’t allowed inside and it has no rhinestones, aliens, cowboys or rollercoasters, the photos aren’t quite up to Jon’s usual standard!)