A must see! This museum was so well laid out and takes one on a journey through time. It's within the Lorraine Motel so before one even enters, your breath is already taken away as you see the exquisitely preserved exterior of the site of MLK Jrs assassination. When you enter, the story of civil rights begins with Africa and how Africans were captured and brought to America as slaves. As you walk through the museum, you walk through the years. With each step, you learn more and more so that historical events and figures make better sense. You can see exactly how we, as a nation, evolved and how each event that happens now links to all of the things that happened before. It blows my mind how there are buses, jail cells, bridges and more IN this museum. And the statues of people are beautiful works of art. For me, the most poignant moment came after a short film presentation about the evening before MLK Jr's assassination. The next stop atound the corner is the perfectly preserved rooms where MLK (and his colleagues) spent their last hours. Your view out the window is the last thing MLK saw. And I looked down and saw people walking up to the front of the hotel, like I had done just hours before, with that same look of shock I had on my face. Like me, it looked like they were thinking "I can't believe I am seeing that setting from that photograph (forever etched in my brain) in real life. This ground feels sacred and repulsive at the same time." I will never forget this museum and urge folks to make time to visit.
