What Is the Lorraine Motel?
Today, the Lorraine Motel is part of the National Civil Rights Museum, but it’s most (in)famous as the place where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated.
What Makes It Historical?
In 1945, Black businessman, Walter Bailey, bought the Marquette Hotel in a segregated part of Memphis, added a second level with nearly thirty more rooms, and renamed it the Lorraine Motel, partly after his wife, Loree, and partly after the jazz hit, Sweet Lorraine! He renovated it in the Googie style with bright colors and geometric patterns that were especially popular in Space Age California, and it became a major destination for any Black traveler visiting Memphis for business or pleasure! The guest book at the Lorraine included the likes of Aretha Franklin, Cab Calloway, Louis Armstrong, Satchel Paige, and Jackie Robinson!
When Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. joined the guestbook at the Lorraine Motel in 1968, he was in Memphis supporting a strike by Black sanitation workers! They made $70 a week or less, got only one uniform, and were not allowed to work or be paid when it rained! Dr. King had given his “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speech at the Mason Temple Church of God in Christ on April 3rd, but on April 4th, he was shot outside Room 306, which today sports a memorial wreath. In response, riots erupted across 125 cities, and less compromising groups like the Black Panthers saw a surge in membership! Despite an overwhelming sense of despair, Dr. King’s murder did get the Civil Rights Act of 1968 pushed through Congress, codifying federal hate crimes and outlining housing protections by race, color, religion or national origin!
How Can I #HelpTheHelpers?
- Pay the entrance fee to help maintain trails, signs, structures, and other visitor services!
- Become a member of the National Civil Rights Museum!
- Donate to the National Civil Rights Museum!
- Be a responsible visitor! Please respect the signs and pathways, and treat all structures and artifacts with respect. They’ve endured a lot to survive into the present. They’ll need our help to make it into the future!
How Do I Get There?
450 Mulberry St St
Memphis, TN 38103
(Take Me There!)
When Should I Visit?
View the outside of the motel any time you like, but the museum itself is open Wednesday through Monday from 9:00 AM until 5:00 PM!
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