1 - Lorraine Motel
The Lorraine Motel in Memphis - where Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King was staying when he was silenced by an assassins bullet. It's now the site of the National Civil Rights Museum.
I just hapened to be in Memphis, the city Rev Dr Martin Luther King was shot, on the actual MLK Weekend. On the holiday itself I went to the Lorraine Motel, which is now the site of The National Civil Rights Museum, to pay my respects.
The Lorraine Motel in Memphis - where Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King was staying when he was silenced by an assassins bullet. It's now the site of the National Civil Rights Museum.
The National Civil Rights Museum was built as an extention of the Lorraine Motel. They left the facade of the Lorraine Motel intact as the museum entrance and recreated a sense of how it may have looked on April 4, 1968 - the day Rev Dr King was fatally shot. He was staying in room 306, the wreath is placed in the spot where he was felled.
April 4, 1968... there was a light drizzle as Rev Dr King stepped outside and into the cross-hairs of James Earl Rays rifle. It's hard to believe that 40 years have past.
The local news reported that MLK was to be in Memphis to address a labor dispute. They even mentioned the Motel by name and (shockingly) broadcast that he'd be staying in Room 306. James Earl Ray checked into the boarding house across the way and simply waited for his opportunity. I took this picture from the window Ray assassinated MLK from - this is EXACTLY what he would have seen.
This is the window from which James Earl Ray fired the shot that fatally hit Rev Dr Martin Luther King in the face. King was rushed to the hospital where he died a few hours later. Many feel that he knew he had a premonition of his fate - to quote one of his speeches on reaching equality's Promised Land, "I may not be here when you get there..."