Walking in Memphis

I'm enjoying a little peace and quiet in my hotel room here in Memphis.  I'm flying out tomorrow morning at 6:15am to head back to Houston.  (Everyone else is on a noon flight.)  The trip has thankfully not been as hard as I thought.  I've been able to relax a bit and try to enjoy myself.  I stayed awake for most of the lectures :) and I've done the social thing :).  I'm all around pretty pleased with how things went.

Thursday evening when we arrived we were picked up by a driver for our drive into the city.  He was an endearing older gentleman who is very proud of his city and hometown.  (His wife was along for the ride as well!)  He gave us a brief history of the city as he drove us into downtown Memphis.  Just before he dropped us off at our hotel he drove us by the National Civil Rights Museum.  As we drove around the corner to reach the museum I looked up and saw this...

My heart just went still.  I realized immediately that I was looking at the place where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot and killed.  On my boarding pass earlier that day I had noticed that one of the places recommended to visit in Memphis was the National Civil Rights Museum, and I was a bit intrigued, but I gave it no thought.  I simply didn't know that this place, this holy place (for me) was the grounds for the National Civil Rights Museum.  I asked Roy, our driver, if we could stop so I could get out.  I walked as close as I could get to stand below Rm 306 where Dr. King had stayed that early April 1968.

 I cannot express my emotions as I stood there in that chilly Memphis night looking up at that balcony.  The picture we've all seen of Dr. King's prone body on the ground with the men kneeling and standing beside his body is one that is ingrained in my mind.  I can see them all pointing towards where the bullet that struck down Dr. King came from.  It was almost as if I was there that April 4th.

As everyone else was waiting for me, I made my way back to the van and we headed on to the hotel.  We got checked in and had dinner in the hotel dining room.  We were all starving and exhausted.

I slept like a baby!  I usually wake up at 530 even when Tate stays at my parents' house, but not this time!  I slept until 630 and snoozed until 7!

We attended the lecture for the morning session, ate lunch then we headed off to the National Civil Rights Museum.  Unfortunately, we were unable to go into the hotel (which has not been open to the public since 1982) as it's under renovation, but we were able to go into the boarding house from where James Earl Ray is said to have shot that fatal bullet.  It was a sobering place to enter.  The bathroom from where he is believed to have shot from has not been altered since that day.  Much of the evidence found in the boarding house as well as in the area has been kept and is on display, including Dr. King's autopsy report and the slug that was removed from his body.  

Arriving in Memphis in late March 1968. 

The room James Earl Ray stayed in.

 Here is the view James Earl Ray had of the Lorraine Motel from the bathroom...

The bathroom.

Unchanged.

I've zoomed in on the view.

I left the museum almost in tears;  there were many videos about the entire civil rights movement starting with the first African slaves being brought to the states to footage of Emmit Till's murder, footage of the murders of James Chaney, Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman to Nelson Mandela's fight against Apartheid in South Africa.  

I will definitely be returning here with Tate.  I'd love for my dad to join us as well as my mother.  One point that I've definitely taken to heart was one commentator saying that those times of the Civil Rights Movement was not fun, it was not people holding hands, singing songs fighting for a cause.  It was downright scary, horrific, brutal and inhumane.  It is unfathomable what one human can do to another.  And Tate needs to know of whence he came.

I made my way across the street to see the place where Dr. King was killed in the daylight.  I will never be the same.

Of note as well is that I met Jacqueline Smith on my way to the museum.  I had googled the museum the night before and her name came up.  She was a housekeeper at the motel since 1973 and when the motel was finally closed in 1982 she refused to leave and had to be forcibly removed.  For the past 26 years she has kept vigil outside the motel in protest of the museum, as she feels the motel should be kept as low income housing for the poor in honor of Dr. King's work.  (that's a very quick synopsis)  Anyway, as I walked up to the motel I saw a woman sitting at a table.  I asked her if she knew Jacqueline Smith.  Imagine my surprise when she said she was Jacqueline Smith.  We chatted briefly and I was impressed with her passion and conviction.   

History.  My history.  

For this experience alone I'm more than glad I came to Memphis.

We took the trolley back to The Peabody Hotel to have a drink and rest.  We sat in the lobby and relaxed all while waiting for the apparently all exciting March of the Ducks.  I had never heard of this, nor had I heard of the hotel, but it's a huge deal, so we hung out and watched. :)

Sleepy duck!

We headed back to our hotel via Beale Street...

Everyone got changed and we meandered off to dinner at Spindini...yummy!

We came home with full bellies and slept well.  Yep again I slept like a baby!!!

Another morning and early afternoon of lecture, then we headed out to enjoy a lovely afternoon drink on Beale Street while enjoying some live music.  While at some random bar we were treated to some young men doing acrobatics on Beale Street...

After a couple of drinks we headed off for some fantastic bar-b-q.  It was a lovely lovely evening.  Everyone else stayed downstairs to have one more drink in the hotel bar, but I opted to come upstairs and get packed for my trip home to my sweet boy tomorrow!

My sweet boy who has apparently had a great time with Grandmommy, Papa and Aunt Lindsey!

Grandmommy and Papa saved Aunt Lindsey from being kicked last night since Papa slept with Tate.  This morning Aunt Lindsey apparently had a fantastic 6 mile run.  Grandmommy and Papa took Tate to soccer then met Lindsey for lunch at Tate's favorite place. They even sent me pics of the happy boy!

Then Grandmommy and Papa were off to ride the zoo train with my little guy who was thrilled!  He told them he wanted to buy me a present....sooooo sweet.

And promptly opened it when he got home...

It's the thought that counts isn't it?