Memphis, TN: African American Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. was killed by gunfire on the balcony of his hotel in Memphis, Tennessee on April 4th, 1968. His violent death sparked outrage and grief throughout the country. The site of his assassination, the Lorraine Motel, was a small minority-owned hotel on the south side of the city. The hotel’s owner attempted to maintain King’s room as a shrine to the fallen Civil Rights leader, but the hotel went out of business shortly after the murder. In the 1980s, community members formed The Martin Luther King Memorial Foundation, and, after considerable effort, raised enough money to turn the hotel into a museum, which opened in 1991. Room numbers 306 and 307, where King stayed, have been preserved, forming the centerpiece of the exhibit.
