A motel for Black travellers
Walter Bailey ran the Lorraine as lodging for Black guests in the years of segregation, and after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 he expanded it and named it the Lorraine Motel. Musicians recording at Stax Records, among them Aretha Franklin and Otis Redding, stayed there.
Room 306
Dr Martin Luther King Jr. was staying in Room 306 when he was shot on the balcony outside it on 4 April 1968. A wreath now marks the place on the balcony, and the museum tells the story of that day in its Memphis exhibit.
A place of remembrance
The museum opened at the Lorraine in 1991. The State of Tennessee owns the motel, and the Lorraine Civil Rights Museum Foundation runs the museum.



