I’d never heard of The Peabody Hotel but it’s one I will never forget. The Peabody is home to five North American mallard ducks that have been trained to march into the exquisite lobby everyday at 11am and 5pm. This tradition started in the 1930’s and in 1940 one of the bellmen, Mr. Edward Pembrooke, offered to help train the ducks to march into the lobby. Mr. Pembrooke retired in 1991 but the tradition lives on so don’t worry- even if you’re lodging elsewhere you can still stop in to see the ducks. These quacky fella’s live in the “Royal Duck Palace” during their three month stay and then enjoy a nice long life of retirement at a local Memphis farm.
The Sun Studio (AKA: The birthplace of RockN’Roll) is a stop you cannot miss. This studio is where BB King, Elvis and Johnny Cash started their musical careers! You can stand in the exact spot Elvis once did and if you ask nicely, they may even let you see the control room!
I highly suggest renting an electric city bike to explore the trails along the Mississippi River. It was very relaxing and saved a lot of time opposed to walking. The statue below is of Mr. Tom Lee who saved 32 people when he witnessed a capsizing steamboat just fifteen miles south of Memphis.
Of course be sure to visit Beale St to hear live music over a couple brewski’s. I even found a Pearl Jam guitar in one of the bars!!
Arcade Restaurant is a MUST if you love breakfast diner food. I wish we kept more oldie’s in business because I felt right at home with these fluffy pancakes.
I spent the rest of my morning at Stax Museum of American Soul Music before heading to the Civil Rights Museum. I enjoyed learning the history of Stax and its continuous open door policy over the years. Blacks and Whites were able to collaberate together on their music and everyone felt welcome. This was very hard to find in the late 60’s because the state, nation and government were divided. Stax thrived by working together.
I had to laugh because one of the displays included a phonograph from 1950, as well as an IPOD FROM 2001! Yes, items from my youth are now in museums. The most popular attraction would be Isaac Hayes’s gold and teal Cadillac on a spinning display. Fancy!
I saved The National Civil Rights Museum for last knowing I would spent a lot of time reading and processing a range of emotions including anger, sadness, disappointment and frustration. Why as a human race, can we not get this right?
Next door to the museum is The Lorraine Motel where Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968. This area of the hotel has been preserved and incorporated into the museum. A sulk of sadness ran through my body as I stood so close to where an iconic soul once stood.
To quickly review history, Africans were sent to America in the 1700-1800’s as slaves. They were sent on boats in shackles beneath the deck (less than 3.5 ft high) where most grew ill and died before arrival. To be on a boat, traveling through high currents while shackled, hungry and unable to stand is inhumane. It is sickening that humans can treat each other this way.
In 1865, the thirteenth amendment abolished slavery. A victory for African Americans but also a long way from real freedom. Sharecropping kept most of them working as “slaves” because they were charged more for supplies than they could ever hope to make and their debts would pile up before they could ever pay them off. Between 1890-1930, at least 3,000 African Americans were in killed in the streets by lynching. White Americans would pose with their corpses. Lynching usually occurred when blacks would try to vote, compete for jobs with white people or attempt to enjoy public spaces.
This behavior is terrorism. The KKK is a terrorist organization. African Americans started forming groups such as NACW, CORE, NAACP and NUL to protest Jim Crow laws and fight for their rights. White Americans could not handle Black Americans being in the same space as them. They despised their skin color. As a matter of fact, the constitution stated Black Americans were only 3/5 of a person.
It was clear that African Americans wanted equality. They wanted to attend the same schools, eat at the same restaurants, ride the same buses, drink from the same fountains, etc. Why should they be treated any differently because of their skin color? A white mother with two college kids in 1950 said, “A negro is a negro. Educated or ignorant, he possesses certain traits that make him different and undesirable… there is no reason our universities should be forced to receive them”.
Before the bus boycott in 1955, Black Americans would have to pay at the front of the bus, exit and enter from the rear and hope that the bus didn’t take off in the meantime. They were also expected to forfeit their seats for standing White Americans. Rosa Parks was arrested for not giving up her seat despite paying like everyone else.
During the boycott, Black Americans tried carpooling but the cops wouldn’t allow that either. They would cite tickets to taxi drivers for trying to help out. White extremists were bombing the homes of movement leaders, including Martin Luther King Jr’s home.
There were peaceful protests by Black Americans called “sit-ins” in which African Americans would go to “white only” restaurants and sit down. White Americans would yell, spit at and beat them for being in their “space”. A movement that started with four original protestors grew to thousands in a short period of time.
Another prominent peaceful protest was boycotting businesses that did not support equality. Instead of buying new clothes from Rich’s department store in Atlanta, they boycotted and wore old, thrifted clothing. Hit them where it counts… their wallets! The fight continued on with The Freedom Riders, Selma etc. and still continues today with current protests regarding police brutality and inequality. I don’t recall learning any of this in school. This is not Critical Race Theory- this is AMERICAN HISTORY. I don’t remember seeing any of this on tv and I’m sure that’s not a coincidence considering where I was raised. Walking through the museum made me wonder why Black Americans would even give White Americans a chance to redeem themselves. How do they not hate us for the generations of abuse they’ve endured?
Hate is never the answer. We must grow together. This museum visit provided a huge leap in my understanding of the complexity of the issues surrounding race in America. What I learned above all else, is that I have so much more to learn.
