Tomorrow is Martin Luther King Jr. Day. I think that is as apropos a time as any to share some pictures from my recent trip to the Civil Rights Museum in Memphis:
I have a well known love of history, but at the same time, I’m not really a museum person. I love to go to places where history has happened, but museums usually don’t hold my attention for extremely long time. That being said, if you’re ever in Memphis, the Civil Rights Museum is a hard recommend.
The front of the museum is the hotel where Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. Across the street is the boarding house where the shot was fired that killed him. I’m not sure why they’ve decided to make that part of the museum. I would burn that building to the ground.
Actually I’d put every BS racist traitor confederate statue I could in that building and then burn it to the ground. With that being said, the exhibits in that building are definitely weaker than in the hotel part of the museum.
The museum is a powerful reminder of how far we’ve come in this country from slavery to the Civil War to reconstruction to Jim Crow to Freedom Writers to Selma to the Voting Rights Act. It is a reminder that basic human rights are still under fire to this day and we have to stay vigilant before we start marching backwards in the country.
In the last speech that Martin Luther King Jr. gave before he was assassinated he preached on the Good Samaritan. His words still ring true to this day and seem the right way to end this blog:
Let us develop a kind of dangerous unselfishness. One day a man came to Jesus; and he wanted to raise some questions about some vital matters in life. At points, he wanted to trick Jesus, and show him that he knew a little more than Jesus knew, and through this, throw him off base. Now that question could have easily ended up in a philosophical and theological debate. But Jesus immediately pulled that question from mid-air, and placed it on a dangerous curve between Jerusalem and Jericho. And he talked about a certain man, who fell among thieves. You remember that a Levite and a priest passed by on the other side. They didn’t stop to help him. And finally a man of another race came by. He got down from his beast, decided not to be compassionate by proxy. But with him, administering first aid, and helped the man in need. Jesus ended up saying, this was the good man, this was the great man, because he had the capacity to project the “I” into the “thou,” and to be concerned about his brother. Now you know, we use our imagination a great deal to try to determine why the priest and the Levite didn’t stop. At times we say they were busy going to church meetings—an ecclesiastical gathering—and they had to get on down to Jerusalem so they wouldn’t be late for their meeting. At other times we would speculate that there was a religious law that “One who was engaged in religious ceremonials was not to touch a human body twenty-four hours before the ceremony.” And every now and then we begin to wonder whether maybe they were not going down to Jerusalem, or down to Jericho, rather to organize a “Jericho Road Improvement Association.” That’s a possibility. Maybe they felt that it was better to deal with the problem from the causal root, rather than to get bogged down with an individual effort.
But I’m going to tell you what my imagination tells me. It’s possible that these men were afraid. You see, the Jericho road is a dangerous road. I remember when Mrs. King and I were first in Jerusalem. We rented a car and drove from Jerusalem down to Jericho. And as soon as we got on that road, I said to my wife, “I can see why Jesus used this as a setting for his parable.” It’s a winding, meandering road. It’s really conducive for ambushing. You start out in Jerusalem, which is about 1200 miles, or rather 1200 feet above sea level. And by the time you get down to Jericho, fifteen or twenty minutes later, you’re about 2200 feet below sea level. That’s a dangerous road. In the days of Jesus it came to be known as the “Bloody Pass.” And you know, it’s possible that the priest and the Levite looked over that man on the ground and wondered if the robbers were still around. Or it’s possible that they felt that the man on the ground was merely faking. And he was acting like he had been robbed and hurt, in order to seize them over there, lure them there for quick and easy seizure. And so the first question that the Levite asked was, “If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?” But then the Good Samaritan came by. And he reversed the question: “If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?”
That’s the question before you tonight. Not, “If I stop to help the sanitation workers, what will happen to all of the hours that I usually spend in my office every day and every week as a pastor?” The question is not, “If I stop to help this man in need, what will happen to me?” “If I do not stop to help the sanitation workers, what will happen to them?” That’s the question.
Let us rise up tonight with a greater readiness. Let us stand with a greater determination. And let us move on in these powerful days, these days of challenge to make America what it ought to be. We have an opportunity to make America a better nation.
I recognized the hotel from the old photos I have seen, but didn’t know it had been made into a museum. I would love to know the story of some of the statues and such.
It is pretty amazing. I would say that a trip to Memphis and not seeing it is a wasted trip to Memphis. It would be 1A and 1B with Beale Street.
Then Graceland.
Then Sun Records. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to Sun Records.
The first couple statues are a representation of slaves.
The set of statues at a counter represent the Woolworth Sit In.
The guy in the gas mask is from the exhibit on Selma.
The last 2 statues are from the Sanitation Strike.
I would love to see all of those. Sadly, much of my traveling was for the Computer Mine, so I didn’t get as much sightseeing done as I’d like (Alaska being the exception – and even then, I only scratched the surface). I’m going on one of my first big trips of my OWN this May to Rome, and I’m going deep into the important stuff but also the weird stuff, you know? The stuff that gives it depth of history – like Sun Records. I’m going to guess that’s not on the to-do list of about 70% of Memphis’ visitors – but it’s a huge piece of the history and what makes it unique. I think it’s cool that you hit what you had time to do.
I had wondered if the counter was from the Woolworth Sit In, in particular! That all helps a lot, to know context – thank you!
When you say you are going on your OWN, does that mean you aren’t taking the family?
A friend of mine went to Rome last year and loved it. Actually she is kind of sickening. She is like 20 years old and has been to Ghana and large chunks of Europe. She actually flew into Instanbul on her way to Italy.
Definitely would’ve like to spend one more night in Memphis, but Jesse and his stupid wedding anniversary.
I am actually going with Mom this time. I wanted to take Alice, but it’s during the last month of school. Mom goes about once a year to observe the international student teachers – they recently lost their host school, so she has to go this time to meet with a few new options and find a new host. Since that will mean less intensive time working, it was sort of the ideal time to go – ISU will pay for the AirBnB and cabs and such, and I really just have to pay for my airfare and then food/souvenirs/tours. I’ve gotten some really interesting tours lined up that aren’t “average” – I got special permission from the Vatican to go to the Necropolis under the Vatican (where St. Peter’s buried), we’ve got tickets to see Nero’s buried “Golden Palace” (which has an amazing backstory, if you have time to google Domus Aurea), and will go to the Capuchin Crypts (also freaking fascinating). I’ve also found a bunch of weird stuff – John the Baptist’s head (since he was beheaded) is chilling out in a basilica, St. Valentine’s head, there’s another church with 22 former popes’ embalmed hearts. There’s an art museum that is in a former power factory but has all kinds of ancient statues and such, so it’s a really odd juxtaposition. I’m not sure that Mom is quite prepared for the kinds of things I want to do – we’re still doing the “normal” Rome stuff, but I want to see this other stuff, too. I’ve always wanted to go to London more than anywhere in the world… but Rome will definitely work!
I’m so jealous and impressed – that’s a pretty amazing gamut of travel, especially for one so young! I am guessing she does some missions work?
You would have thought that he could celebrate that almost any other day… 😉
Yeah. She’s been to Ghana a couple of times. I think she went somewhere in Central America as well. But the exact location is escaping me.
I’d definitely go see that stuff, but you know, a lot of Catholic relics are faked. They were tourist traps of the day. The odds of that being John the Baptist’s head is next to none.
That being said, all of that stuff sounds amazing. Gruesome, but amazing!
That’s just amazing. I’ve seen some photos of some physician friends on Facebook who went to Haiti recently on missions trips, and it’s so inspiring. I would think that Central America and Ghana would both be incredibly sobering, but also really amazing. That’s a pretty incredible life.
Yeah, I’m keeping in mind that the chances of it being real are pretty freaking low… but I figure that at the very least, it’s something that I can say I’ve done, right? I showed Jon yesterday that you can tour Mussolini’s air raid bunkers and home at Villa Torlonia if you request special tours, and he was thinking it’s disrespectful of me to want to tour those. I feel like it’s akin to trying to see Hitler’s bunkers if I went to Germany, and it’s not like I’m going to tell every Italian I meet that I’m heading over to Il Duce’s house or anything.
I realized when talking to my boss (who has been to Italy several times) that the places I found sound a little macabre to the outsider! I made up a super-involved itinerary of all of this stuff, though, to try and make sure we can hit every weird place I found. I also made sections for places I know she won’t visit, like this really interesting surrealistic art gallery – I’ll fill those in while she’s in meetings.
I’m pretty excited for the pictures I’ll be able to bring home!
I don’t think touring Benito’s hangs is disrespectful. I think it is history.
It is disrespectful when they make a tribute to the man.
This is where people fail in the argument about Confederate Statues. It isn’t about trying to erase history. It is about what you are trying to memorialize. What you are holding up as heroes.
That completely ignores the fact that Confederate Statues were put up in Jim Crow times (not following the Civil War) to try to scare off black people from voting. From fighting for civil rights. That is why so many of them are next to courthouses.
Even their intent was racist beyond the fact that they are paying tribute to slavers.
I agree with that sentiment 100% – visiting a plantation or a slave selling block is looking back at history of slavery, whereas leaving up a statue dedicated to the people who purposely and systematically enslaved other humans is not history, but reverence. Those are two wildly different things.
That’s exactly what my argument was to Jon – I wasn’t going to go and buy a “Benito = Best!” t-shirt with his face on it or anything. I want to see the true Rome, and I think that’s an important part of it. Apparently this palace/bunker is incredibly ignored by tourists – which seems to be just painting a pretty face on history. There’s also some Ardeatine Caves where Nazis took 335 Italians and killed them systematically after the Resistance had bombed a group of Nazis that I was thinking of touring, as it’s on the Appian Way – from what I’ve seen, it’s not a place that anyone who isn’t fluent in Italian can make much out of, though, so I might skip that as it’s out of the way of anything else. But I feel like these are the things that make history.
It would be like trying to tour all of Oklahoma City without going to the Murrah Building to see the site of the bombings. It’s not pretty, but it’s history.
Actually where the Murrah Building was is pretty. There is a memorial there now. In fact, it about the only thing to see in Oklahoma City. Perhaps the whole state of Oklahoma.
It sounds like a killer vacation. I am very jealous. I do hope I make it to Europe some day. I just don’t know how to scam it like you have. I’ve scammed some trips out on Ortho’s dime by tagging along with Jesse, but unfortunately, he doesn’t travel to Europe.
I think I have only been to Oklahoma twice – once to drive through, once for Ortho. Neither was in OKC… and neither was very interesting.
Maybe you can get a trip to Cuba or something out of it!
I don’t think he’ll ever travel to Cuba either.
There is a good chance that the current moron in the White House will close down relations to Cuba any way.
Are you going to pretend that you’re Canadian when you’re in Europe. I 100% would.
I have enough “Minnesota O” in me naturally that I think I can pull it off. Plus, big fan of Justin Trudeau here, so I think that knowledge will help.
I sure don’t want to tell anyone I’m from the US.