With a list of celebrity guests including Tom Hanks, Sean “P. Diddy” Combs, Dave Chappelle and Martin Sheen, you might think the Lorraine Motel in Memphis is a five-star hotel.

Yet, none of these visitors ever checked into a room.

Advertisement

The Lorraine, the infamous location of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1968 assassination, was converted into the National Civil Rights Museum in 1991. In addition to King’s motel room – fully preserved as it was the night of his assassination – an additional 12,800 square feet added in 2002 includes the nearby house where James Earl Ray allegedly fired the fatal shot at King. Two antique white Cadillacs are parked in front of the site.

But the museum does more than remember the past; it puts everything in perspective.

“Visitors get to see more than just the place where Dr. King was assassinated; they get to see what has happened as a result of Dr. King’s legacy,” says Stacey Harris, marketing and public relations coordinator for the museum.

For hours of operation and more information, call 901-521-9699 or visit www.civilrightsmuseum.org.