Memphis Museum Plans Events to Celebrate MLK Day

January 10, 2023

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — A new photography exhibit, a blood drive and food donations are among the planned highlights of the National Civil Rights Museum’s celebration of the holiday honoring the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in Tennessee.

Each year, the Memphis-based museum hosts events to remember King, the civil rights leader who was fatally shot here on April 4, 1968. The museum is located on the site of old Lorraine Motel, where King was shot while standing on a balcony.

The holiday celebrating King’s life and legacy is Monday. Among the museum’s planned events is the launch of “Tarred Healing,” a photographic exhibition by Black photographer Cornell Watson. The exhibit examines the intersections of racism, Confederate monuments and “the complex relationship between the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, its students, and the surrounding Black community,” the museum said in a news release.

Musical performances, magic shows, craft activities and other events are also planned.

Meanwhile, those who donate blood will have express entry into the museum on King Day and will receive additional free admission for up to four people on any day in 2023.

Visitors also are encouraged to bring items for the annual Mid-South Food Bank food drive.