We got up in the morning and headed West. First big town was Memphis. Both John and Sarah Jane suggested
that we go the Civil Rights Museum, located at the motel where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated.
It was a deeply moving experience. It illustrates how differences are exploited to take advantage of others.
We drove over to Graceland, Elvis Presley's estate. It was so commercialized, and we were unable to accommodate
the emotional change from the museum. We decided to pass. We then drove to the Van Buren, AK, near the Oklahoma
border.
Here is a picture of the motel. MLK was standing on the balcony at room 306 where he was shot and killed. The
National Civil Rights Museum was built as an extension of the Motel.
There was a photo montage of a small portion of the people who led in the promotion of civil rights.
There was a series of displays about the economic impact of slavery. Here are some pictures of the
text part. They are a little difficult to read from the pictures, but it is definitely difficult
to realize how horribly other human beings were treated.
We didn't photograph the caption, but we believe that this is a picture of MLK delivering the "I have
a dream" speach.
This exhibit shows how the new found rights were supressed. The horrible thing to realize is that
similar actions are still being undertaken: removing polling places, purging of voter rolls, etc.
Finally, at the end of the day, we had put in 539 miles.
