For decades, Memphis shouldered recognition as the place where King was killed. The assassination was a burden to the community until 1991, when the converted Lorraine Hotel opened as the site of the National Civil Rights Museum. Since then the museum has become one of the most visited attractions in the City, attracting more than 300,000 guests per year.
Building further on the city’s connection to King, Memphis has been building up to this anniversary with a series of events spanning the past year. The National Civil Rights Museum is at the center of the celebration, but the rest of the City is involved and organizations from across the country are making the trip to Memphis as part of the commemoration.
For the past year, under the theme MLK50 and #MLK50, the National Civil Rights Museum has sent out weekly achievable action steps individuals can take towards achieving King’s legacy of peace. Activities planned during the week include the MLK50 Symposium: Where Do We Go From Here?, on April 2 and 3. The symposium will convent scholars, historians and thought leaders from across the country to present on the state of civil and human rights issues and racial and economic equity 50 years after the death of King. The keynote speaker for the April 2 sold-out luncheon is former Attorney General Eric Holder.
The Symposium is planned in conjunction with the University of Memphis where individuals can attend a King Film festival and see a hand written copy of King’s “WE Shall Overcome” speech, complete with handwritten notes, on display in the university’s library through April 16.
On April 4, attention returns to the Civil Rights Museum with a National Day of Remembrance. At 3:30 p.m., a ceremonial “Laying of the Wreath” will occur on the balcony outside King’s Room 306 at the Lorraine Motel; and at 6:01 p.m. the museum with participate in the national “Bell Toll.”
The day will conclude with “An Evening of Storytelling” featuring such storied civil rights warriors, scholars and young innovators as — to name only a few — Children’s Defense Fund founder Marian Wright Edelman; Georgia Congressman and Selma voting rights campaigner John Lewis; 1960s civil rights student leader Diane Nash; Clarence Jones, who helped draft King’s “I Have a Dream” speech; lawyer Mike Cody, who represented King in Memphis; and Bree Newsome, who gained national attention when she removed the Confederate flag from the South Carolina state house in 2015
The American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), who represent the sanitation workers King was in Memphis marching for when he was killed, the national NAACP, and Church of God in Christ (COGIC) are holding a series of activities in Memphis from April 2-4. In addition to planned workshops, conferences and youth town halls, on the evening of April 3, the group will return to Mason Temple Church of God in Christ, where King gave his prophetic “I’ve been to the Mountaintop” speech, the night before he was assassinated.
Among the featured speakers for that event, scheduled to begin at 6 p.m., are Martin Luther King III, Dr. Bernice King, Bishop Charles Blake, Presiding Bishop of the Church of God and Christ and AFSCME President Lee Saunders.
On April 4, the NAACP is hoping to gather thousands for a march and rally. The rally begins at 8 am. At the AFSCME Local 1733 headquarters, and continues with a march to Mason Temple. President/CEO, Derrick Johnson, will be on hand to address the marchers NAACP.
On April 5 — Organized by LeMoyne-Owen College, the 11 a.m. a “We Remember King: 50 Year Reflection and Memorial Service” at historic Metropolitan Baptist Church, 767 Walker, Memphis. This event is a recreation of a student-led memorial service that took place the day after King’s assassination.
For more on Memphis MLK50 events go to:
www.mlk50.civilrightsmusuem.org or http://action.naacp.org/page/s/naacp-i-am-campaign
