National Civil Rights Museum

I have been to the site of Gandhi's assassination, the MLK center in Atlanta, and now the National Civil Rights Museum. I don't think the atrocities of the civil rights movement will ever stop shocking me. The stories, images, and videos that I saw at the museum were not that different than what I saw or read before. However, they still stun me. Dad was very much in the country during the Civil Rights Movement and he mentioned how he avoided many of the cities in the south. I will say that for all the problems that the South caused during that time frame they have come a long way. Never on this trip have I felt unsafe and never in so many years of living in the South did I feel significantly discriminated against. Many people were worried about us traveling through Mississippi and I think that it unfortunately has an undeserved reputation in that sense.

However, I digress. One thing that has taken my curiosity is wondering what happened to many of the people that we see in the famous pictures of the Civil Rights Movement. People on both sides of the debate. What happened to the kid pouring the glass with the printed shirt? What about the people sitting at the counter? What about the girl shouting? Obviously I'm asking mostly about the aggressors, but that is because I'm wondering whether they ever changed their views. I wonder if they realized what they were advocating.

The museum is on the site of the Lorraine Motel which is where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. The motel is remarkably well preserved. My understanding is that there was a squatter that was still staying at the motel after a number of years when they were trying to get the museum started there. I believe the squatter was kicked out and is now living across the street still campaigning to get the museum closed. Many of the modern assassinations have been so well documented that you can literally trace minute by minute or step by step the victim's last moments. I found the same to be true at the site of Gandhi's assassination and the result is that it is very surreal to be in that spot. The Civil Rights Museum has also acquired the building where James Earl Ray resided and shot Dr. King from. I was very amazed to find out that they also have on display all of the evidence from Mr. Ray's trial. I guess at this point with the death of Mr. Ray there is no real point in keeping the evidence from the public eye.