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The 35th Anniversary of The National Civil Rights Museum at The Lorraine Motel

The National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, marks a milestone anniversary this year. The museum blends storytelling, archival materials, oral histories, and interactive technology to guide visitors from slavery and Reconstruction through the Jim Crow era, the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the Freedom Rides, the March on Washington to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination. The new Legacy Building, which opened in May, features exhibits on protest, poverty, education, media, and leadership, and questions for every visitor: “What will you do next and what do you hope for?”

The National Civil Rights Museum

Courageous Voices of Hope: Music’s Role in the Civil Rights Movement

The STAX Museum of American Soul Music is the world’s only museum dedicated to preserving and promoting the legacy of Stax Records and American Soul Music with interactive exhibits, films, stage costumes, musical instruments, records, photos, galleries and artifacts. The museum is located on the original site of Stax Records. Aretha Franklin, Memphis Slim, Memphis Minnie and Booker T. Jones all called the neighborhood home. Meanwhile, the Museum of Christian & Gospel Music in Nashville, one of Tennessee’s newest sites along the U.S. Civil Rights Trail looks at the powerful role the genre and its musicians played as the sound served as a source of hope, unity and inspiration during the fight for Civil Rights. Visitors can experience state-of-the-art exhibits that celebrate today’s artists, honor the trailblazers of the past, and inspire future generations.

The Museum of Christian & Gospel Music

A Symbol of Nonviolence at The Civil Rights Room at Nashville Public Library

The Civil Rights Room at Nashville Public Library captures the time when thousands of African American citizens in Nashville sparked a nonviolent challenge to racial segregation in the city and across the South at schools, lunch counters, movie theaters and public places. Visitors can sit at the symbolic lunch counter and read the Ten Rules of Conduct carried out by nonviolent protestors and examine the timeline of local and national events. They can listen to oral histories of teachers, students and protestors and see history come to life with photographs and videos.

The Civil Rights Room at Nashville Public Library

A Powerful Story in Clinton, Tennessee

The Green McAdoo Cultural Center honors and preserves the legacy of the Clinton 12, the story of twelve students fighting for their right to equal education in August 1956. The center takes you inside a classroom to teach about Clinton’s role in the history of desegregation and civil rights and what happened in the community. Interactive screens and audio let you hear the stories of the Clinton 12.

The Clinton 12 statues at The Green McAdoo Cultural Center

Learn more about Tennessee’s 17 Civil Rights Trail sites and listen to the 3-episode podcast at tncivilrightstrail.com.