National Civil Rights museum - Wikipedia National Civil Rights museum National Civil Rights Museum The Lorraine Motel is part of the complex of the National Civil Rights Museum. The wreath marks Dr. King 's approximate place at the time of his assassination. General information Town or city Memphis, Tennessee Country United States Coordinates 35 ° 08 ′ 04 '' N 90 ° 03 ′ 27 '' W ﻿ / ﻿ 35.1345 ° N 90.0576 ° W ﻿ / 35.1345 ; - 90.0576 Coordinates : 35 ° 08 ′ 04 '' N 90 ° 03 ′ 27 '' W ﻿ / ﻿ 35.1345 ° N 90.0576 ° W ﻿ / 35.1345 ; - 90.0576 Completed 1920 ( original building ) 1960s The National Civil Rights Museum is a complex of museums and historic buildings in Memphis, Tennessee ; its exhibits trace the history of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States from the 17th century to the present. The museum is built around the former Lorraine Motel, where Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968. Two other buildings and their adjacent property, also connected with the King assassination, have been acquired as part of the museum complex. The museum reopened in 2014 after renovations that increased the number of multi-media and interactive exhibits, including numerous short movies to enhance features. The museum is owned and operated by the Lorraine Civil Rights Museum Foundation, based in Memphis. The Lorraine Motel is owned by the Tennessee State Museum and leased long term to the Foundation to operate as part of the museum complex. On October 21, 2016, the museum was honored by becoming a Smithsonian Affiliate museum. Contents 1 History 1.1 Establishing the memorial foundation 1.2 Museum opening in 1991 1.3 Renegotiation of lease with state in 2007 1.4 2012 renovations 2 Location and complex 3 Smith protest 4 See also 5 References 6 External links History Wide - view image of the Lorraine Motel and the boarding house ( to the left ) from which James Earl Ray fired the fatal shot. Police say he fired from the second floor bathroom window ( to the left of the lightpole ). The site began as the 16 - room Windsorlorrine Hotel around 1925 and was later known as the Marquette Hotel. In 1945, Walter Bailey purchased it and renamed it for his wife Loree and the song `` Sweet Lorraine ''. During the segregation era, Bailey operated the motel as upscale lodging that catered to a black clientele. He added a second floor, a swimming pool, and drive - up access for more rooms on the south side of the complex. He changed the name from Lorraine Hotel to Lorraine Motel. Among its guests through the 1960s were musicians going to Stax Records, including Ray Charles, Lionel Hampton, Aretha Franklin, Ethel Waters, Otis Redding, the Staple Singers and Wilson Pickett. Following the assassination of King, Bailey withdrew Room 306 ( where King died ) and the adjoining room 307 from use, maintaining them as a memorial to the activist leader. Bailey 's wife, Loree, suffered a stroke hours after the assassination and died five days later. Bailey reduced the operation by converting the other motel rooms to single room occupancy for low - income residential use. Establishing the memorial Foundation Bailey worked with Chuck Scruggs, program director of WDIA, and attorney D'Army Bailey, to raise funds to `` Save the Lorraine. '' They worked with the Martin Luther King Memorial Foundation. The Foundation bought the motel for $144,000, following foreclosure in December 1982. In 1984, the group changed the name of their organization to the Lorraine Civil Rights Museum Foundation. The Lorraine finally closed as an SRO motel on March 2, 1988. Sheriff 's deputies were needed to evict the last holdout tenant, Jacqueline Smith, in preparation for an $8.8 million overhaul. Walter Bailey, Lorraine Motel owner, died in July 1988, before getting to see the results of his efforts to establish the museum. The Foundation worked with Smithsonian Institution curator Benjamin Lawless to develop a design to save historical aspects of the site. The Nashville, Tennessee firm McKissack and McKissack was tapped to design a modern museum on those portions of the grounds that were not directly related to the assassination. Museum opening in 1991 The museum was dedicated on July 4, 1991, and officially opened to the public on September 28, 1991. D'Army Bailey was the founding president of the museum. In 1999, the Foundation acquired the Young and Morrow Building, and its associated vacant lot on the West side of Mulberry, as part of the museum complex. A tunnel was built under the lot to connect the building with the motel. The Foundation became the custodian of the police and evidence files associated with the assassination, including the rifle and fatal bullet. The latter are on display in a 12,800 sq. foot exhibit in the former Y & M building, which opened September 28, 2002. Renegotiation of lease with State in 2007 Through the years, there has been controversy over composition of the board of the museum Foundation and of the mission of the museum, as people have differing opinions. These issues came to a head in December 2007, as the museum foundation was asking the state, which owned the property, to extend its lease for 50 - years rent - free. Bailey, a circuit court judge, said he was disappointed with the museum 's emphasis on history. He said that he had envisioned it as an institution to inspire activism. By 2007, members of the board included whites from the corporate world. Bailey and other community activists criticized the board as `` too white '' and claimed they were shutting out the community. Beverly Robertson, then director of the museum, defended the board and the museum 's operation. Gregory Duckett, a board member, disagreed with Bailey 's interpretation, saying the museum was never designed as an activist institution. Robertson noted that many board members were African Americans who had been activists and also entered corporate life. In 2007, the state agreed to a 20 - year lease, while taking over major maintenance of the complex. It required the museum board to hold annual public meetings and increase the number of African - American board members. 2012 renovations The main museum closed in November 2012 for a $27.5 million renovation, to include changes to exhibits and upgrades to building systems. The exhibits were updated for historical accuracy and to add to their evocative power ; the work was guided by a group of recognized civil rights scholars. The building 's renovations included replacement and repair of the HVAC and mechanical systems, expansion of the lobby, and creation of a new educational center. Many of the museum 's most popular exhibits did not change, such as Room 306 ( where Dr. King was staying when he died ), the replica sanitation truck ( Dr. King came to Memphis to support an AFSCME sanitation workers ' strike ), and the replica of the bus Rosa Parks rode in Montgomery, Alabama, before initiating the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955 - 56. The original bus resides at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan. In the 2014 reopening, a major new exhibit featured is a replica of the U.S. Supreme Court room where oral argument was heard in 1954 in the seminal Brown v. Board of Education, in which the Court ruled that segregation in public schools was unconstitutional. This was a major victory for the civil rights movement. The museum has several interactive kiosks where patrons can access audio, images, text and video about the full civil rights movement. Visitors can search for text based on event, location, or theme. Many exhibits now feature `` listening stations '' where patrons with headphones can hear audio about the exhibit they are seeing ; one features the voice of Malcolm X in a debate. More than 40 new short films throughout the museum also enhance the effect of the exhibits. In addition, museum presentations stress that the work continues ; this is history that is part of the present ; for instance, with challenges continuing on voting rights and other civil rights. The renovated museum opened to the public on April 5, 2014. The Associated Press review said, `` The powerful, visceral exhibit ( s set ) the tone for an evocative, newly immersive museum experience that chronicles the history of the civil rights struggle in America. '' King scholar Clayborne Carson of Stanford University said that the museum 's renovations present `` the best and most recent scholarship on civil rights available today. '' Location and complex SW - NE View of the site. The complex is located at 450 Mulberry Street, with all properties except the Lorraine Motel owned by the Lorraine Civil Rights Museum Foundation. The motel is owned by the State of Tennessee and operated by the Foundation under a 20 - year lease with the Tennessee State Museum in Nashville. The main museum is located on the south edge of downtown Memphis in what is now called the South Main Arts District. It is about six blocks east of the Mississippi River. The main 4.14 - acre ( 16,800 m ) site includes the museum, the Lorraine Motel, and associated buildings. The museum also owns the Young and Morrow Building at 422 Main Street. View of the room at the former boarding house from which Ray is believed to have fired the fatal shot. This was where James Earl Ray initially confessed ( and later recanted ) to shooting King. The complex includes Canipe 's Amusement Store at 418 Main Street, next to the rooming house where the murder weapon with Ray 's fingerprints was found. Included on these grounds is the brushy lot that stood between the rooming house and the motel. Replica of the Greyhound Bus destroyed by white supremacists during the Freedom Rides. The museum exhibits a number of vehicles of historic value or which are otherwise relevant to the time period. Vehicles on display include an International Harvester garbage truck in an exhibit on the 1968 Memphis sanitation strike that brought King to Memphis, James Earl Ray 's Ford Mustang, a 1968 Cadillac and 1959 Dodge parked outside the motel, a re-creation of the burned shell of a Greyhound bus used by Freedom Riders, and a bus representative of the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Smith protest Jacqueline Smith protest vigil outside the Lorraine in October 2010. At the end, the Lorraine Motel housed temporary guests and residents as an SRO. The last resident was Jacqueline Smith, who had lived there since 1973 while working for the motel as a housekeeper. When the motel was closed in 1988, Smith was evicted. The neighborhood at the time around the Lorraine Motel was a lower - income, predominantly black area. The reconstruction of the neighbohood was related to other rejuvenation of the downtown area and the inclusion of the museum in the arts district. Smith set up camp across the street where she maintained a protest vigil. In 2010, she said the Lorraine :... should be put to better uses, such as housing, job training, free college, clinic, or other services for the poor... the area surrounding the Lorraine should be rejuvenated and made decent and kept affordable, not gentrified with expensive condominiums that price the people out of their community. She thought King would have objected to having $27 million spent on a building for him and to evicting motel residents. In 2014, Smith continued her protest vigil, regardless of weather. See also The Witness : From the Balcony of Room 306 Birmingham Civil Rights Institute International Civil Rights Center and Museum site of the Greensboro, North Carolina sit - ins National Voting Rights Museum The Mountaintop ( 2009 play ) Mississippi Civil Rights Museum List of museums in Tennessee References Jump up ^ `` Fact Sheet ''. National Civil Rights Museum. Archived from the original on December 28, 2008. Retrieved December 7, 2017. ^ Jump up to : Cornish, Audie ( December 16, 2007 ). `` Mission of National Civil Rights Museum Questioned ''. NPR. Retrieved February 13, 2015. Jump up ^ `` Eviction Empties Motel Where Dr. King Died ''. The New York Times. March 3, 1988. Jump up ^ `` Walter Bailey, Lorraine Motel Owner, 73 ''. The New York Times. July 7, 1988. ^ Jump up to : `` National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis Reopening ''. The New York Times. Associated Press. March 31, 2014. Retrieved March 31, 2014. Jump up ^ `` We Are Prepared to Die : The Freedom Rides 1961 ''. National Civil Rights Museum. ^ Jump up to : `` A One - Woman Protest at the Lorraine Motel ''. Washington Post. May 16, 2014. ^ Jump up to : Parrish, Geov ( February 14, 2001 ). `` The Longest Sit ( February 14, 2001 ) ''. Eatthestate.org. Archived from the original on June 9, 2007. Retrieved May 5, 2010. Jump up ^ Dean, Terry. `` Side Trip -- Jacqueline Smith 's personal, and private, crusade ''. Austinweeklynews.com. Retrieved May 5, 2010. Jump up ^ Jordan, Mark ( April 2, 1998 ). `` News Feature ''. The Memphis Flyer. Retrieved May 5, 2010. Jump up ^ Chambers, Douglas B. ( October -- November 1999 ). `` This Dreamer Cometh : The National Civil Rights Museum ''. American Visions. 14 ( 5 ) : 40. Retrieved May 5, 2010 -- via ebscohost.com. External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to National Civil Rights Museum. National Civil Rights Museum National Civil Rights Museum -- Information TN History for Kids article about the museum Official website of Jacqueline Smith hide Martin Luther King Jr. Speeches, movements, and protests Speeches `` Give Us the Ballot '' ( 1957 ) `` I Have a Dream '' ( 1963 ) `` How Long, Not Long '' ( 1965 ) `` Beyond Vietnam : A Time to Break Silence '' ( 1967 ) `` I 've Been to the Mountaintop '' ( 1968 ) Writings Stride Toward Freedom : The Montgomery Story ( 1958 ) The Measure of a Man ( 1959 ) `` What Is Man ? '' `` Second Emancipation Proclamation '' Strength to Love ( 1963 ) Letter from Birmingham Jail ( 1963 ) Why We Ca n't Wait ( 1964 ) Conscience for Change ( 1967 ) Where Do We Go from Here : Chaos or Community ? ( 1967 ) Movements and protests Montgomery bus boycott ( 1955 -- 1956 ) Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom ( 1957 ) Albany Movement ( 1961 -- 1962 ) Birmingham campaign ( 1963 ) March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom ( 1963 ) St. Augustine movement ( 1963 -- 1964 ) Selma to Montgomery marches ( 1965 ) Chicago Freedom Movement ( 1966 ) Mississippi March Against Fear ( 1966 ) Anti-Vietnam War movement ( 1967 ) Memphis sanitation strike ( 1968 ) Poor People 's Campaign ( 1968 ) People Family Coretta Scott King ( wife ) Yolanda King ( daughter ) Martin Luther King III ( son ) Dexter Scott King ( son ) Bernice King ( daughter ) Martin Luther King Sr. ( father ) Alberta Williams King ( mother ) Christine King Farris ( sister ) A.D. King ( brother ) Alveda King ( niece ) Other leaders Ralph Abernathy ( mentor and friend ) Ella Baker ( colleague ) James Bevel ( strategist / colleague ) Dorothy Cotton ( colleague ) Jesse Jackson ( protégé ) Bernard Lafayette ( colleague ) James Lawson ( colleague ) John Lewis ( colleague ) Joseph Lowery ( colleague ) Benjamin Mays ( mentor ) Diane Nash ( colleague ) James Orange ( colleague ) Bayard Rustin ( advisor ) Fred Shuttlesworth ( colleague ) C.T. Vivian ( colleague ) Wyatt Walker ( colleague ) Hosea Williams ( colleague ) Andrew Young ( colleague ) Assassination James Earl Ray Lorraine Motel ( now National Civil Rights Museum ) Funeral MLK Records Act Riots Loyd Jowers trial United States House Select Committee on Assassinations Media Film King : A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis ( 1970 documentary ) Our Friend, Martin ( 1999 animated ) Boycott ( 2001 film ) The Witness : From the Balcony of Room 306 ( 2008 documentary ) Alpha Man : The Brotherhood of MLK ( 2011 documentary ) Selma ( 2014 film ) All the Way ( 2016 film ) Television King ( 1978 miniseries ) `` The First Store '' ( The Jeffersons episode, 1980 ) `` Great X-Pectations '' ( A Different World episode, 1993 ) `` The Promised Land '' ( New York Undercover episode, 1997 ) `` Return of the King '' ( The Boondocks episode, 2006 ) Plays The Meeting ( 1987 ) The Mountaintop ( 2009 ) I Dream ( 2010 ) All the Way ( 2012 ) Illustrated Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story ( 1957 comic book ) Music `` Abraham, Martin and John '' ( Dion ) `` March ! For Martin Luther King '' ( John Fahey ) `` Martin Luther King 's Dream '' ( Strawbs ) `` Happy Birthday '' ( Stevie Wonder ) `` Pride ( In the Name of Love ) '' ( U2 ) `` MLK '' ( U2 ) `` King Holiday '' ( King Dream Chorus and Holiday Crew ) `` By The Time I Get To Arizona '' ( Public Enemy ) `` Shed a Little Light '' ( James Taylor ) `` Up to the Mountain '' ( Patti Griffin ) `` Never Alone Martin '' ( Jason Upton ) `` Symphony Of Brotherhood '' ( Miri Ben - Ari ) Joseph Schwantner : New Morning for the World ; Nicolas Flagello : The Passion of Martin Luther King ( 1995 album ) `` A Dream '' ( Common featuring Will.i.am ) `` Glory '' ( Common and John Legend ) hide Related topics Southern Christian Leadership Conference ( SCLC ) Martin Luther King Jr. Day Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial National Historical Park King Center for Nonviolent Social Change Dexter Avenue Baptist Church National Civil Rights Museum Authorship issues Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity Season for Nonviolence U.S. Capitol Rotunda sculpture Oval Office bust Homage to King sculpture, Atlanta Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. sculpture, Houston Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, San Francisco Landmark for Peace Memorial, Indianapolis Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. statue, Milwaukee The Dream sculpture, Portland, Oregon Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library Memorials to Martin Luther King Jr. Eponymous streets America in the King Years Civil rights movement in popular culture Lee -- Jackson -- King Day Martin Luther King High School ( disambiguation ) Lycée Martin Luther King ( disambiguation ) City of Memphis and Memphis metropolitan area ( counties in TN, MS and AR ) Topics History Timeline Geography Government Economy Education Culture Tourism Sports Transportation Memphians Districts Downtown Midtown North Memphis South Memphis East Memphis Neighborhoods Belle Meade Berclair Binghampton Capleville Central Gardens Chickasaw Gardens Cooper - Young Cordova Douglass Evergreen Frayser Glenview Harbor Town Hickory Hill High Point Terrace Hollywood Hyde Park Lenox Medical District Mud Island Normal Station Nutbush Orange Mound Parkway Village Raleigh Riverside Sherwood Forest South Main Uptown Victorian Village Vollintine Hills Whitehaven Wolfchase Metro area landmarks Tennessee A. Schwab 's Art Museum of the University of Memphis AutoZone Stadium Bartlett Museum Beale Street Bellevue Baptist Church Belz Museum Botanic Garden Brooks Museum Burkle Estate Central Station Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception Chickasaw Bluff Children 's Museum Chucalissa Museum Cotton Museum Davies Manor Dixon Gallery and Gardens Downtown Trolleys Elmwood Cemetery FedExForum Fire Museum Fort Assumption Fort Wright Graceland Hernando de Soto Bridge Liberty Bowl Stadium Libertyland Lichterman Nature Center Lincoln American Tower Magevney House Mallory -- Neely House Meeman - Shelby Forest State Park Memorial Park Cemetery Cotton Exchange Memphis International Airport International Raceway National Cemetery Parkway System Railroad & Trolley Museum Memphis Zoo Mississippi River Mississippi River Park Mud Island Monorail National Civil Rights Museum National Ornamental Metal Museum Oaklawn Garden Orpheum Theatre Overton Park Peabody Hotel Pink Palace The Pyramid Rhodes College Rock N ' Soul Museum St. Jude Children 's Research Hospital St. Mary 's Episcopal Cathedral Shelby Farms Stax Museum Sun Studio South Main Arts District Temple Israel Tennessee Brewery Tipton County Museum T.O. Fuller State Park Tom Lee Park Union Station University of Memphis Victorian Village Wolf River Mississippi Arkabutla Lake BankPlus Amphitheater at Snowden Grove DeSoto County Museum 1st Jackpot Casino Gold Strike Casino Holly Springs National Forest Landers Center Horseshoe Casino Mississippi River Resorts Casino Sam 's Town Gambling Hall Southaven Towne Center Tunica Resorts Snowden Grove Park Tanger Outlets Southaven Tunica Roadhouse Casino Wall Doxey State Park Arkansas Horseshoe Lake Mississippi River Southland Park Gaming and Racing Wapanocca National Wildlife Refuge Metro area suburbs Tennessee Arlington Atoka Bartlett Collierville Covington Germantown Lakeland Millington Munford Northaven Oakland Piperton Somerville Shelby Forest Mississippi Byhalia Hernando Holly Springs Horn Lake Olive Branch Senatobia Southaven Tunica Tunica Resorts ( Robinsonville ) Walls Arkansas Earle Marion West Memphis Metro area counties Tennessee Shelby Fayette Tipton Mississippi DeSoto Marshall Tate Tunica Arkansas Crittenden Civil rights movement Notable events ( timeline ) Prior to 1954 Lynching in the United States Murder of Harry and Harriette Moore 1954 -- 1959 Brown v. Board of Education Bolling v. Sharpe Briggs v. Elliott Davis v. County School Board of Prince Edward County Gebhart v. Belton White America, Inc. Sarah Keys v. Carolina Coach Company Emmett Till Montgomery bus boycott Browder v. Gayle Tallahassee bus boycott Mansfield school desegregation 1957 Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom `` Give Us the Ballot '' Royal Ice Cream sit - in Little Rock Nine National Guard blockade Civil Rights Act of 1957 Kissing Case Biloxi wade - ins 1960 -- 1963 Greensboro sit - ins Nashville sit - ins Sit - in movement Civil Rights Act of 1960 Gomillion v. Lightfoot Boynton v. Virginia Rock Hill sit - ins Robert F. Kennedy 's Law Day Address Freedom Rides attacks Garner v. Louisiana Albany Movement University of Chicago sit - ins `` Second Emancipation Proclamation '' Meredith enrollment, Ole Miss riot `` Segregation now, segregation forever '' Stand in the Schoolhouse Door 1963 Birmingham campaign Letter from Birmingham Jail Children 's Crusade Birmingham riot 16th Street Baptist Church bombing John F. Kennedy 's Report to the American People on Civil Rights March on Washington `` I Have a Dream '' St. Augustine movement 1964 -- 1968 Twenty - fourth Amendment Bloody Tuesday Freedom Summer workers ' murders Civil Rights Act of 1964 1965 Selma to Montgomery marches `` How Long, Not Long '' Voting Rights Act of 1965 Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections March Against Fear White House Conference on Civil Rights Chicago Freedom Movement / Chicago open housing movement Memphis sanitation strike King assassination funeral riots Poor People 's Campaign Civil Rights Act of 1968 Green v. County School Board of New Kent County Activist groups Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights Atlanta Student Movement Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters Congress of Racial Equality ( CORE ) Committee on Appeal for Human Rights Council for United Civil Rights Leadership Dallas County Voters League Deacons for Defense and Justice Georgia Council on Human Relations Highlander Folk School Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights Montgomery Improvement Association Nashville Student Movement NAACP Youth Council Northern Student Movement National Council of Negro Women National Urban League Operation Breadbasket Regional Council of Negro Leadership Southern Christian Leadership Conference ( SCLC ) Southern Regional Council Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee ( SNCC ) The Freedom Singers Wednesdays in Mississippi Women 's Political Council Activists Ralph Abernathy Victoria Gray Adams Zev Aelony Mathew Ahmann William G. Anderson Gwendolyn Armstrong Arnold Aronson Ella Baker Marion Barry Daisy Bates Harry Belafonte James Bevel Claude Black Gloria Blackwell Randolph Blackwell Unita Blackwell Ezell Blair Jr. Joanne Bland Julian Bond Joseph E. Boone William Holmes Borders Amelia Boynton Raylawni Branch Ruby Bridges Aurelia Browder H. Rap Brown Guy Carawan Stokely Carmichael Johnnie Carr James Chaney J.L. Chestnut Colia Lafayette Clark Ramsey Clark Septima Clark Xernona Clayton Eldridge Cleaver Kathleen Cleaver Charles E. Cobb Jr. Annie Lee Cooper Dorothy Cotton Claudette Colvin Vernon Dahmer Jonathan Daniels Joseph DeLaine Dave Dennis Annie Devine Patricia Stephens Due Joseph Ellwanger Charles Evers Medgar Evers Myrlie Evers - Williams Chuck Fager James Farmer Walter E. Fauntroy James Forman Marie Foster Golden Frinks Andrew Goodman Fred Gray Jack Greenberg Dick Gregory Lawrence Guyot Prathia Hall Fannie Lou Hamer William E. Harbour Vincent Harding Dorothy Height Lola Hendricks Aaron Henry Oliver Hill Donald L. Hollowell James Hood Myles Horton Zilphia Horton T.R.M. Howard Ruby Hurley Jesse Jackson Jimmie Lee Jackson Richie Jean Jackson T.J. Jemison Esau Jenkins Barbara Rose Johns Vernon Johns Frank Minis Johnson Clarence Jones J. Charles Jones Matthew Jones Vernon Jordan Tom Kahn Clyde Kennard A.D. King C.B. King Coretta Scott King Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Sr. Bernard Lafayette James Lawson Bernard Lee Sanford R. Leigh Jim Letherer Stanley Levison John Lewis Viola Liuzzo Z. Alexander Looby Joseph Lowery Clara Luper Malcolm X Mae Mallory Vivian Malone Thurgood Marshall Benjamin Mays Franklin McCain Charles McDew Ralph McGill Floyd McKissick Joseph McNeil James Meredith William Ming Jack Minnis Amzie Moore Douglas E. Moore Harriette Moore Harry T. Moore William Lewis Moore Irene Morgan Bob Moses William Moyer Elijah Muhammad Diane Nash Charles Neblett Edgar Nixon Jack O'Dell James Orange Rosa Parks James Peck Charles Person Homer Plessy Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Fay Bellamy Powell Al Raby Lincoln Ragsdale A. Philip Randolph George Raymond Jr. Bernice Johnson Reagon Cordell Reagon James Reeb Frederick D. Reese Gloria Richardson David Richmond Bernice Robinson Jo Ann Robinson Bayard Rustin Bernie Sanders Michael Schwerner Cleveland Sellers Charles Sherrod Alexander D. Shimkin Fred Shuttlesworth Modjeska Monteith Simkins Glenn E. Smiley A. Maceo Smith Kelly Miller Smith Mary Louise Smith Maxine Smith Ruby Doris Smith - Robinson Charles Kenzie Steele Hank Thomas Dorothy Tillman A.P. Tureaud Hartman Turnbow Albert Turner C.T. Vivian Wyatt Tee Walker Hollis Watkins Walter Francis White Roy Wilkins Hosea Williams Kale Williams Robert F. Williams Andrew Young Whitney Young Sammy Younge Jr. James Zwerg Influences Nonviolence Padayatra Sermon on the Mount Mahatma Gandhi Ahimsa Satyagraha The Kingdom of God Is Within You Frederick Douglass W.E.B. Du Bois Mary McLeod Bethune Related Jim Crow laws Plessy v. Ferguson Separate but equal Buchanan v. Warley Hocutt v. Wilson Sweatt v. Painter Heart of Atlanta Motel, Inc. v. United States Katzenbach v. McClung Loving v. Virginia Fifth Circuit Four Brown Chapel Holt Street Baptist Church Edmund Pettus Bridge March on Washington Movement African - American churches attacked Journey of Reconciliation Freedom Songs `` Kumbaya '' `` Keep Your Eyes on the Prize '' `` Oh, Freedom '' `` This Little Light of Mine '' `` We Shall Not Be Moved '' `` We Shall Overcome '' Spring Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam `` Beyond Vietnam : A Time to Break Silence '' Watts riots Voter Education Project 1960s counterculture In popular culture King Memorial Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument Freedom Riders National Monument Civil Rights Memorial The New Jim Crow ( 2010 ) Noted historians Taylor Branch Clayborne Carson John Dittmer Michael Eric Dyson Chuck Fager Adam Fairclough David Garrow David Halberstam Vincent Harding Steven F. Lawson Doug McAdam Diane McWhorter Charles M. Payne Timothy Tyson Akinyele Umoja Movement photographers Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=National_Civil_Rights_Museum&oldid=845403393 '' Categories : African - American history in Memphis, Tennessee Museums in Memphis, Tennessee Memorials to Martin Luther King Jr. History museums in Tennessee African - American museums in Tennessee American national museums in Tennessee Motels in the United States Hotels established in 1920 1920 establishments in Tennessee Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. African - American civil rights movement ( 1954 -- 68 ) museums Hidden categories : Use mdy dates from April 2018 Coordinates on Wikidata Wikipedia articles in need of updating from April 2018 All Wikipedia articles in need of updating Talk Contents About Wikipedia Català Deutsch Français Nederlands Русский Türkçe Edit links This page was last edited on 11 June 2018, at 15 : 28 ( UTC ). 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Question: when did the national civil rights museum open
Answer: September 28, 1991