Lorraine Motel in Memphis: Martin Luther King’s last days
As I have written here previously, we visited the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis back in 1999. The museum is housed within the former Lorraine Motel, where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was gunned down 41 years ago tomorrow evening.
This morning, I heard on the news that LIFE magazine has posted a gallery of never-before-published photos by Henry Groskinsky titled “The Day MLK Died” on their website. Here is the NBC Nightly News segment about these pictures:
This, in turn, got me thinking once again about one of the most haunting stories I have ever heard anywhere.
Martin Luther King’s last days
In 1993, NPR anchor Liane Hansen traveled to Memphis and the museum, and she spoke with the Rev. Samuel “Billy” Kyles, at whose home Dr. King had planned to eat dinner that evening.
Rev. Kyles’ vivid and moving recollection of that April 4th absolutely devastated me, and I ordered a CD copy of the segment from NPR which I still own. However, because it predates the vast archives of material that NPR has put online, I have never found an audio file of it at their site.
Until today. Searching one more time, I finally found the piece.
Rev. Samuel “Billy” Kyles’ eyewitness account of Martin Luther King’s last days is 33 minutes long, and it is worthy of your undivided attention.
If you get a chance later today or this weekend, find someplace quiet and take the time to go back to that motel and that balcony.
