MEMPHIS, TN - JANUARY 19:  Aja Robertson, 7, looks out the window of the Rosa Parks bus exhibit at the National Civil Rights Museum January 19, 2004 in Memphis, Tennessee. The museum's attendance swelled to about 9,500 visitors on Martin Luther King Day.  (Photo by Mike Brown/Getty Images)

Getty Images

National Civil Rights Museum

Top choice in Memphis


Housed partly inside the Lorraine Motel, where Martin Luther King Jr was fatally shot on April 4, 1968, is the gut-wrenching National Civil Rights Museum. Its immersive and compelling exhibits chronicle the struggle for African American freedom and equality from the earliest days of slavery in America. Both Dr King’s cultural contribution and his assassination serve as prisms for looking at the Civil Rights movement, its precursors and its continuing impact on American life.

The turquoise exterior of the 1950s motel and two preserved interior rooms, which are on view, remain much as they were at the time of King's death. Exhibits continue across the street, eventually leading to the boardinghouse – and the upstairs room – where James Earl Ray most likely fired the fatal shot. Plan to spend at least a half day exploring the museum.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Memphis attractions

1. Blues Hall of Fame

0.07 MILES

Dedicated to Blues Hall of Fame inductees, this intimate and well-done space features a rotating art gallery on the lobby level and a small but well…

2. Memphis Rock 'n' Soul Museum

0.42 MILES

This Smithsonian museum, next to FedEx Forum, examines how African American and white music mingled in the Mississippi Delta to create the modern rock and…

3. Elvis Statue

0.43 MILES

The world's first bronze Elvis statue was erected in this small plaza in 1980.

4. Memphis Music Hall of Fame

0.46 MILES

It was a long time coming, but Memphis finally has a shrine to its own. This small but well-done museum, the sister gallery to the Memphis Rock 'n' Soul…

5. Withers Collection Museum

0.54 MILES

Featuring content culled from a 1.8-million-strong photo archive, this museum and gallery pays tribute to the work of famed African American…

6. WC Handy House Museum

0.58 MILES

On the corner of 4th St, this shotgun shack once belonged to the composer called the 'father of the blues.' He was the first to transpose the 12 bars and…

7. Mississippi River Museum

1.01 MILES

Pop in here to learn a little bit more about the cultural and natural history of the Big Muddy. Be sure to check out the scale model of the lower…

8. Sun Studio

1.18 MILES

This dusty storefront is ground zero for American rock and roll. Starting in the early 1950s, Sun's Sam Phillips recorded blues artists such as Howlin'…

  • placement: superzone
  • path: Destinations/POIs/superzone
  • possible size: [970, 250], [970, 90], [728, 90], [1, 1],
  • targeting:
    {
      "url": "usa/memphis/attractions/national-civil-rights-museum/a/poi-sig/411320/362227",
      "destination": "Memphis",
      "continent": "North-America",
      "country": "USA",
      "region": "Tennessee",
      "city": "Memphis",
      "position": "superzone"
    }