The morning after Glow in the Park, Jana and I went to the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Hotel (Where Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated). I was so excited about this visit. I typically do a lot of the trip planning when I go out with my friends. I had sent Jana a list of things we might want to do, including the civil rights museum, thinking she would never pick the museum (although I was most hoping to visit the museum out of all the options).
But Jana who is a museum/history nerd just like me said, "I would really like to do the museum, but I'm thinking you want to do such and such instead." I was so excited to tell her I wanted to do the museum too. Nerds unite!
But really the civil rights museum isn't nerdy it all. It is touching, moving, and sobering at times. I learned so much that I didn't know, and it made me think differently about what I already knew. It was also sad to be reminded how much our home state of Alabama was involved in the controversy. While I love Alabama with all my heart, we continue to lag in making social progress at times.
Some of my favorite exhibits included a Montgomery bus replication with the statue of Rosa Parks. I walked up to the front of the bus, and as soon as I did a voice hollered, "move to the back of the bus." It scared me to death. After the man said it many times, a narrator informed me, if I hadn't moved to the back of the bus by this time, I would have already been arrested.
I was also captivated by the end part of the tour which leads you into the Lorraine Hotel and the actual room where Martin Luther King stayed his last night. The have replicated it the way it was the day he was assassinated. Very haunting.
We really enjoyed our visit to the museum, and I would highly recommend going if you are ever in Memphis.
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