Roadtripping to National Museums-- Part 3

NATIONAL CIVIL RIGHTS MUSEUM, MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE--  Built at the Lorraine Motel where Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968.  The museum chronicles the black struggle for freedom and justice.  A great use for an old motel that otherwise probably would have been torn down.

Photographs, newspaper accounts and three-dimensional scenes illustrate pivotal moments in the struggle: the 13th Amendment (1865) outlawing slavery; the Brown v. Board of Education decision (1954); Rosa Parks' bus boycott (1955) in Montgomery, Alabama; forced integration by federal troops of Little Rock (Ark) High School (1957) and demonstrations, sit-ins, marches and voter-registration campaigns.

The museum opened in 1991.

This would be an interesting visit, but at this time I am boycotting Memphis because of the park name situation.


NATIONAL CIVIL WAR MUSEUM, HARRISBURG, PENNSYLVANIA--  The museum has over 24,000 artifacts, photographs, manuscripts and other printed materials.  Popular exhibits include Robert E. Lee's personal Bible inscribed by him: "R.E. Lee, City of Mexico, Sept. 1847," and found under his ransacked wagon four days before he surrendered at Appomattox.

There is also a leather glove worn by Stonewall Jackson and a Union uniform belonging to Lt. Philo Hersey.

The museum opened in 2001 and was founded by former Harrisburg mayor and Civil War buff Stephen R. Reed.

Definitely one I'll be checking out for some reason.

Roads and History Just Go Together.  --RoadDog