E X H I B I T I O N D E S C R I PT I O N . T I M E L I N E O F M L K . O U T S I D E S C E N E .
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I N T E R I O R S E T T I N G . G I F T S H O P .
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M L K M O V E M E N T T O D AY .
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LOOKING BACK AT A LEADER’S LEGACY
nspiring Greatness: The MLK Exhibition reflects on the 50 years since King’s tragic death and the historic reaction to his death while also examining the continued impact of his legacy on people and events throughout the world. By focusing on his last year, the exhibition emphasizes rarely examined aspects of King’s social justice agenda by comparing contemporary events like the Occupy Movement and the Living Wage Campaign with the Poor People’s Campaign and Sanitation Strike. The exhibit uniquely examines King’s relationship to Memphis. Looking beyond the last days of King to his earlier visits to the city, we see the role of the Lorraine Motel and its owners Walter and Loree Bailey; and how the city wrestled with 6
MLK INSPIRING GREATNESS
the events surrounding King’s death. Files from the FBI and the State of Tennessee’s evidence collection, partially housed at the museum, were consulted to recreate a timeline of King’s movements during his final 48 hours in Memphis. Inspiring Greatness: The MLK Exhibition at the Lorraine Motel features over 150 photographs. We’ve included nine rarely seen photographs from the Memphis photographer Ernest Withers, a friend of Dr. King’s who documented his work in Memphis and the Sanitation Strike of 1968. As well as forty-four photographs from Chicago-based photographer Art Shay, whose color photographs document the turmoil in the city of Memphis from the evening of April 4 to April 8 when King’s body was delivered to the Memphis airport.
Martin Luther King Jr.
1929 – 1968
NATIONAL CIVIL RIGHTS MUSEUM | MEMPHIS, TN
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A R R E S T E D King leads a massive one day Montgomery Bus Boycott after Rosa Parks is arrested.
STARTS SEMINARY
MLK enters Crozer Theological Seminary for three years in Chester, Pennsylvania.
1960 Arrested for a sit-in demonstration at a store in Atlanta. King is sentenced to four months hard labor.
1955 BUS BOYCOTT
Awarded his PhD in Systematic Theology from Boston University.
1929 A
1955
Michael King, who we now know today as Martin Luther King Jr. is born at 501 Auburn Ave. in Atlanta, GA.
K I N G
I S
MLK INSPIRING GREATNESS
T O
J A I L
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His famous Letters from Birmingham jail is written after being arrested.
B O R N
BOSTON UNIVERSITY GRADUATION
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S E N T
63 M A R C H
O N
W A S H I N G T O N
On August 28th, more than 200,000 demonstrators joined King in The March on Washington. Then, his famous “I Have a Dream” speech is delivered.
N O B E L
1964
P E A C E
A S S A S S I N A T E D
1968 M L K
MARCH AGAINST
FEAR
P R I Z E
King, McKissick, and Carmichael resume James Meredith’s March Against Fear that focuses on other social issues. They march from Memphis to Jackson Mississippi.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is shot and killed while on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, TN.
D A Y
O F F I C I A L
1986
Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, becoming the youngest person to receive it.
M L K
President Reagan signs the law declaring every third Monday in January to be MLK Day, a federal holiday.
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DEVASTATION TRANSFORMED INTO A TRIBUTE
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BRING HOME SOMETHING TO REMEMBER
PHONE CASE
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PIN SET
BEANIE
WATER BOTTLE
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RACE RELATIONS TODAY
Today, race relations in the United States of America still have a long way to go. The difference is that we are no longer a nation of segregated black and white, but a diverse mix of race and ethnicity. Anytime the issue of race is raised publicly we get anxious. We just don’t want to talk about it. As much as we like to pretend that we are a “color-blind” society, we see it and feel it every day. We recognize difference, but we’ve not truly learned yet how to accept difference for what it really is… different, not right, not wrong, but simply different.
TERRI LEE FREEMAN Museum President
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HATE CANNOT DRIVE OUT HATE; ONLY LOVE CAN DO THAT. — MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.
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Order your commemorative MLK exhibit poster at: civilrightsmuseum.org