National Civil Rights Museum at Lorraine Motel

hey you all carpetbagger here coming to you live from the south more specifically Memphis Tennessee and today I am here at the Lorraine Motel this is unfortunately where dr. Martin Luther King jr. was assassinated as he was on the balcony of this motel now some good has come out of it they they did turn the motel itself into the National Civil Rights Museum here in Memphis so follow me she can see the front of the hotel is preserved exactly how it was on the day that Martin Luther King jr. was shot as Martin Luther King was walking along this balcony here he was struck in the neck by an assassin's bullet right there in front of room 306 you see where they have hung a reef to do honor dr. King so let's take a look at the museum itself starts where you would expect it to with the beginning of the slave trade here's a slave auctioneer here auctioning off a woman and her newborn baby [Music] where the trade beads actually shows these tiny little glass beads actually been traded for human alliance the floor here actually maps the slave trade you can see Africa right there being linked to Europe and then of course the United States in the Jim Crow section talking about the injustice that African Americans faced after slavery you can see the very evil Klansmen lurking over top the exhibits here's a replica of the Rosa Parks bus where she was arrested for not moving to the back of the bus as I said this is a replica the real bus is actually at the Henry Ford Museum in Detroit the back of the bus now I need that seat now please move back if you can sit there another bus and suppose you get off and anyone there if you don't move out of that seat I'll have you rested get up from there there's a monument to the lunch counter sit-ins that took place during the Civil Rights Movement [Music] Freedom Riders are groups of activists that would ride into segregated areas to challenge the bus segregation this is a replica of one of the buses that was firebombed by the KKK and Anniston Alabama [Music] [Music] [Music] here's some of the personal items member of the Black Panther movement and in the 60s Kwanzaa it's created as a way to celebrate african-american heritage garbage truck here in memory of the Memphis garbage strike that was put on by civil rights activists here we have the two hotel rooms I've actually been preserved these are the two rooms that Martin Luther King and his entourage rented here at the Lorraine Motel so this is room 307 right here this is where his associates stayed and then right here room 306 where dr. King himself stayed on the last night of his life looking out this window you can see the exact spot where Martin Luther King jr. was killed the second half of the Civil Rights Museum is in this building right here which is the former boarding house is believed that James Earl Ray not only stayed in but used as a sniper's purge in the assassination here's a replica of James Earl Ray's car that he used on the day of the assassination these exhibits are all about the assassination and what may or may not have occurred this is all evidence here that was used in the trial James Earl Ray that is his jacket and here is a gun that was found in the pocket of his jacket that allowed them to arrest and was not the gun used in the assassination but this gun did belong to James Earl Ray says that there was evidence that James Earl Ray was attempting to moved to Rhodesia a country that was controlled by white supremacists after the the assassination and that is actually James Earl Ray's boxer shorts used as evidence in the trial there is the rifle is believed to be used by James Earl Ray to assassinate Martin Luther King jr. it's also a shell casing from that rifle and then down here we actually have the bullet it was removed from Martin Luther King's body after he was assassinated here is the actual bathroom where it was believed the sniper bullet was shot that killed Martin Luther King jr. of that window right there yeah as you can see the sniper would be very close to where I'm standing you can see the line of sight would have gone into striking Martin Luther King right there where the wreath is you can see bits and pieces of The Preserve boarding house it used to be in this building this is an interesting thing right here see that there is some anti national civil rights museum sentiments right here and yeah look over here yet actually says welcome to the James Earl Grey memorial now this little area here is the home of a woman named of jacqueline Smith and she has been sitting in this location for 31 years and 342 days as you can see she is not here at the moment she does leave to go to the bathroom and to eat so he must have missed her so Jaclyn Smith was the final resident of the Lorraine Motel she was forcefully evicted from her room 32 years ago and since that point she set up camp right here on the corner and she has been there 32 years she feels that very strongly that the area has been gentrified that the original culture from the area has been sapped away by turning the Lorraine Motel into civil rights museum I actually did get a chance to talk to her maybe it was about about ten years ago what I visited and just very fascinated trying to kind of engage her and honestly she didn't she seems very tired it seemed very tired you know trying to strike up a conversation and she was very casual she's like I'll have you checked out who turned out Graceland because at Graceland she had a little pamphlet she handed out the kind of explained what she did she didn't really seem like she really felt like talking that much about it but I think I would be tired I had been sitting on a street corner for 30-something years over fascinating aspect to the Lorraine Motel here does appear that Jacqueline Smith has returned to her vigil I don't think I don't think we're gonna bother her today appreciate you guys joining me here at the Lorraine Motel the historic site of the Martin Luther King jr. assassination a very somber place for all Americans and the current home of the National Civil Rights Museum thank you for watching and this one's in the bag

Channel: The Carpetbagger

Views: 39,789

Rating: 4.8941669 out of 5

Keywords: the, carpetbagger, lorraine motel, civil rights, museum, mlk, martin luther king jr., dr. king, motel, jaqueline smith, memphis, tn, tennesse, roadside attraction, roadside america, historical, american history, memorial

Id: hgBpFsEiz1o

Length: 12min 4sec (724 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 20 2020