The Mississippi River city of Memphis is a great town to have a good time. Blues and barbeque abound. But there’s another more lasting take on this town, one rich in the history of the 19th and 20th Centuries.
Courtesy of the Memphis Convention & Visitors Bureau, here are some of the city’s must-see touchstones:
– Enter the grounds of the Lorraine Motel and peel back the pages of time. April 4, 1968 was the date, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. had just spoken the night before to city sanitation workers fighting for a better life. Then an assassin struck, killing King as he stood on the second floor balcony of the motel. Now, the Lorraine is the centerpiece of the National Civil Rights Museum, a place that chronicles the journey of a people for equality. Speak quietly here. Remember the past. Focus on the future.
– The struggle to end slavery, the fight to gain freedom is intricately interwoven with the crop that supported the South for so long: cotton. Understand the importance of Memphis in the fibrous scheme of things by visiting the Cotton Museum of Memphis, a place that puts the importance of “white gold” into perspective.
– Lesser known among outsiders, perhaps, is historic Tom Lee Park. Lee, an African American, was instrumental in saving the lives of 32 total strangers when their excursion steamer sank in he Mississippi back in 1925. Lee, considered Memphis’ most beloved hometown hero, braved the currents of the mighty river to get those folks back to shore. He couldn’t swim.
Memphis is a city that’s easy to access by air. Once Northwest Airlines’ sole southern hub, it’s now a significant connection point for Delta Air Lines.
(Featured image: Adam Jones, Ph.D.)
