Personal Narrative: My Trip To The National Civil Rights Museum

The most impactful aspect of our trip came during our last hours in Memphis. We visited the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Hotel. For those that are not familiar, the Lorraine Hotel is where civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968. The hotel and the boarding house across the street have both been transformed into aspects of the museum and I believe that everyone needs to visit these sites. The kiddo was really looking forward to visiting the museums while I was a bit nervous. As a black woman who was reared and lives in the south, I have always been very emotional and passionate about civil rights. As a black woman rearing a 6'2, 220 pound 15 year old in this day and age, I am even more
King's assassin was allegedly located. The exhibits in the Legacy Building begin with a timeline of the American Civil Rights Movement and continue upstairs to the case against James Earl Ray including conspiracy theories, the Freedom Award Wall, and "We Want to be Free", an eight-minute video presentation highlights the human rights movements of South Africa, China, Russia, and America. When we left the Lorraine, all the kiddo said for about 30 minutes was, "See mama. I told you those people were stupid and not ignorant." I didn't have any words.

The National Civil Rights Museum made us think, it made us question, and it made us feel. With the racial and political climate we are in right now, I think that EVERYONE especially teens need to see this exhibit. Hopefully it will put some real faces behind some travesties that happened not too long ago and hopefully it will serve as a reminder that we don't want history repeating itself.

Overall our trip to Memphis was a success. Not only did I have a good time, but so did the kiddo. Memphis has made a believer out of me that it is possible for everyone to be happy when traveling with a