There’s a certain unvarnished reality Memphis shares with its down-river cousin New Orleans, a gritty glint that speaks to the depth of human experience.
You can see that reality in Memphis’ museums:
See where they tried to kill the dream, at the site of the former Lorraine Motel, now the National Civil Rights Museum. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was in Memphis the day he was shot to help sanitation workers rally for basic human rights. Relive that struggle, and the ones which preceded it, in this eye-opening memorial to those who fought for civil rights.
If there was a soundtrack to those times, it is Soul Music. Nowhere is it kept alive quite like the Stax Museum of American Soul Music. This is one seriously cool museum, an enclave of enlightenment suffused with more than 2,000 artifacts, photographs and exhibits. Celebrate the songs of Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes, Ike & Tina Turner, Aretha Franklin and Al Green. Understand where their music came from, and what it still means.
Ten minutes away from the Lorraine is Graceland, outside of the White House maybe the best-known mansion in America. The place is larger than life, just like Elvis. There are three ways to take it in, ranging form a full-court-press VIP tour though a look-see for those on a tight schedule.
About that schedule, whichever of these museums you visit, take time to do more than helicopter in. Wrap your mind around what the curators are trying to tell you. Go away with more than postcards and digital impressions. Go away with understanding.
Story by Jerry Chandler
(Images: Kees Wielemaker, dianagurley)
