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| National
Civil Rights Museum |
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The
aftershock of the assassination of Dr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. on April 4, 1968 would plunge the Lorraine
Motel,
a small minority-owned business in the south-end of downtown Memphis,
into
a long and steep decline. The motel’s owner, Walter Lane
Bailey kept a
couple of rooms as a shrine to Dr. King and to Bailey’s wife,
Lorraine,
who died of a brain hemorrhage several hours after King was
shot.
By 1982, the Lorraine Motel was a foreclosed property. A group of
prominent
Memphians, concerned that this historic site would be destroyed through
continued neglect and indifference, formed the Martin Luther King
Memorial
Foundation to save the Lorraine. Using a design report by a former
Smithsonian
Institution, Benjamin Lawless, the Foundation started seeking funding
for
the nations’s first comprehensive exhibit chronicling
America’s civil rights
movement. |
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| The
Foundation raised $10,000, which brought
a short option to buy the Lorraine; however, members of the Foundation
were unable to raise the full contract price of $250,000. Fortunately,
in December 1982, the Foundation was able to purchase the Lorraine at
auction
for $144,000. Of that amount, $69,000 came from the fundraising efforts
of Foundation members. In addition, $25,000 was donated by the American
Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) and
$10,000
was donated by Lucky Hearts Cosmetics, a business located across the
street
from the Lorraine. The remaining $50,000 was loaned by Tri-State Bank
and
secured jointly by AFSCME and Lucky Hearts.
With vital support from the City of
Memphis, Shelby County, and the
State of Tennessee, nearly $ 9 million dollars were raised to create
and
construct a civil rights center within the Lorraine Motel designed to
help
visitors better understand the history and lessons of the American
Civil
Rights Movement.
The Lorraine Civil Rights Foundation
held an official groundbreaking
in 1987 and on September 28, 1991, the National Civil Rights Museum
opened
its doors to visitors.
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