Company Profile
National Civil Rights Museum
Company Overview
Located in Memphis, TN at the Lorraine Motel, it is the historic site of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s assassination with 200,000+ annual visitors, more than 3 million since opening. NCRM was named one of “America’s Top 10 National Treasures” by USA Weekend Magazine and one of 15 places youths should visit by age of 15 by Budget Travel. NCRM just launched the public phase of its $40 million comprehensive campaign after raising $21 million to support the first-ever renovation of the Lorraine Motel exhibits and facility.
Company History
In 1968, the attention of the nation was focused on the Lorraine Motel. It was this year, on April 4th that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., co-founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and acknowledged leader of the Civil Rights Movement, was assassinated. The aftershock of this event would plunge the Lorraine Motel, a small minority-owned business in the south-end of downtown Memphis, into a long and steep decline. The motel’s owner, Walter Lane Bailey kept a couple of rooms as a shrine to Dr. King and to Bailey’s wife, Lorraine, who died days after King was shot.
By 1982, the Lorraine Motel was a foreclosed property. A group of prominent Memphians, concerned that this historic site would be destroyed through continued neglect and indifference, formed the Martin Luther King Memorial Foundation to save the Lorraine. Using a design report by former Smithsonian Institution Director of Exhibits, Benjamin Lawless, the Foundation started seeking funding for the nations’s first comprehensive exhibit chronicling America’s civil rights movement.
Fortunately, in December 1982, the Foundation was able to purchase the Lorraine at auction for $144,000. With vital support from local government, community and business organization, enough funds were raised to create and construct a civil rights center within the Lorraine Motel designed to help visitors better understand the history and lessons of the American Civil Rights Movement.
The Lorraine Civil Rights Foundation held an official groundbreaking in 1987 and on September 28, 1991, the National Civil Rights Museum opened its doors to visitors.
In February 2001, the Museum broke ground for an $11 million expansion project entitled, Exploring the Legacy. Exploring the Legacy adds 12,800 square feet of exhibition space and connects the main campus of the Museum to the Young and Morrow building and the Main Street Rooming House where James Earl Ray allegedly fired the fatal shot resulting in the death of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
The expansion also includes an overview of some of the world’s most crucial human rights movements and the achievements gained through the efforts and sacrifices of courageous individuals who stood by their convictions. In celebration of the Museum’s 11th anniversary, Exploring the Legacy opened to the public on September 28, 2002.
Notable Accomplishments / Recognition
• Hosted over 3 million visitors since opening in 1991
• Accredited by the American Association of Museums, only 5% of museums earn that distinction
• One of only seven in the U.S. and 17 worldwide accredited international sites of conscience
• One of the top premier heritage and cultural museums in the U.S.
• 2009 Academy Award nominated documentary, “The Witness: From the Balcony of Room 306”
• 2009 documentary “Stand,” by Tavis Smiley
• CNN special “Eyewitness to Murder: The King Assassination”
• History Channel feature
• Top 10 attractions, an American treasure by USA Today
• 10 best historical spots in the U.S., TLC Parentables website, Family Travel, August 19, 2011
• Must see by the age of 15 by Budget Travel and Kids
• Category on the game show Jeopardy
• Educational resources for K-12 schools