Lorraine Motel
The Lorraine Motel is the site of the assassination of civil rights leader, Martin Luther King, Jr. and now home to the National Civil Rights Organization.
In the days of legal segregation, the Lorraine was one of the few hotels in Memphis open to black guests. Its location, walking distance from Beale Street, the main street of Memphis' black community, made it attractive to visiting celebrities. When Louis Armstrong, Sarah Vaughan, or Nat Cole, came to town, they stayed at the Lorraine.
In March 1968, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King visited Memphis to support the city's striking garbage collectors. He checked into the Lorraine, and led a march that, despite his policy of non-violence. turned violent. A second march was then planned.
On April 3, in a speech at Memphis Mason Temple, Dr. King said "We've got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn't matter with me now, because I've been to the mountain top. I won't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life."
Dr. King was assassinated at the Lorraine the next night, as he stood on the balcony outside room 306, on the motel's second floor.
The official account of the shooting named a single assassin, James Earl Ray, who fired one shot from the top floor of a rooming house whose rear windows overlooked the motel.
Many believed that Dr. King was the victim of a conspiracy involving the Memphis police department, the FBI, and the U.S. Army. His opposition to American involvement in the Vietnam war, and plans for massive protests, in the name of his Poor People's Campaign, calling attention to poverty in America, have been cited as reasons.
(excerpted from Tom Sanders, voices.yahoo.com/the-story-lorraine-motel-memphis-14303.h...)
Lorraine Motel
The Lorraine Motel is the site of the assassination of civil rights leader, Martin Luther King, Jr. and now home to the National Civil Rights Organization.
In the days of legal segregation, the Lorraine was one of the few hotels in Memphis open to black guests. Its location, walking distance from Beale Street, the main street of Memphis' black community, made it attractive to visiting celebrities. When Louis Armstrong, Sarah Vaughan, or Nat Cole, came to town, they stayed at the Lorraine.
In March 1968, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King visited Memphis to support the city's striking garbage collectors. He checked into the Lorraine, and led a march that, despite his policy of non-violence. turned violent. A second march was then planned.
On April 3, in a speech at Memphis Mason Temple, Dr. King said "We've got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn't matter with me now, because I've been to the mountain top. I won't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life."
Dr. King was assassinated at the Lorraine the next night, as he stood on the balcony outside room 306, on the motel's second floor.
The official account of the shooting named a single assassin, James Earl Ray, who fired one shot from the top floor of a rooming house whose rear windows overlooked the motel.
Many believed that Dr. King was the victim of a conspiracy involving the Memphis police department, the FBI, and the U.S. Army. His opposition to American involvement in the Vietnam war, and plans for massive protests, in the name of his Poor People's Campaign, calling attention to poverty in America, have been cited as reasons.
(excerpted from Tom Sanders, voices.yahoo.com/the-story-lorraine-motel-memphis-14303.h...)