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Civil Rights Museum Hosts King Family

From left: Martin Luther King III, Arndrea Waters King, Yolanda Renee King Photo Courtesy United Nations

It’s never easy for the King family to come to Memphis. 

Martin Luther King III was only 10 when his father was assassinated at the Lorraine Motel. It would be another 40 years before he would visit the site to place a memorial wreath. 

This week, he’s back with his family: his wife Arndrea Waters King and daughter Yolanda Renee King. “This is the first time that we’ve done this as a family,” Arndrea says. “We felt that it was important to do so this year and we wanted to acknowledge those people that we feel are continuing, in their own way, the work of Martin Luther King Jr.”

As difficult as it is to make the journey, it’s also a testament to that work that compels the King family to gather here and encourage the efforts of those who share a dream of battling the “three evils of society: racism, poverty, and violence.”

On Thursday, April 4th, the National Civil Rights Museum will welcome the King family to the event “Remembering MLK: The Man. The Movement. The Moment.” The commemoration will be in the museum’s courtyard at 4 p.m. with a musical prelude followed by the commemorative service at 4:30 p.m. Mr. King will deliver the keynote address with a focus on the most significant social justice issues facing the nation today. (The event will be streamed via the museum’s website, YouTube, and Facebook platforms.)

The Drum Major Institute (DMI) is the nonprofit founded by Dr. King in 1961 to pursue social justice. Arndrea King is president of DMI and Mr. King is chairman and they are bringing the cause to the National Civil Rights Museum. They are also bringing their daughter, Yolanda Renee King, who is already making her mark as an activist and children’s book author. 

Arndrea says that the need for social change is just as compelling as it ever was, and in some ways more so. “We feel that in some ways there’s a backward movement from the dream,” she says. “Laws are being passed where our daughter — Dr. King’s only grandchild — has fewer rights now at 16 than the day that she was born.”

The occasion of the 56th anniversary of Dr. King’s death gives DMI the opportunity to remind the nation of the continuing struggle. “It’s very important for us to be there to be assembled and a reminder of the sacrifice that so many people made,” Arndrea says, “but also to rededicate ourselves and hopefully for all people of goodwill to join us and rededicate themselves to the eradication of racism and bigotry and poverty and violence, and to dedicate themselves to peace and justice and equity.” 

DMI will announce a number of grants for work being done by several organizations around the country toward that end. Those groups are working in various areas, such as voting rights, justice inequity, and more. Arndrea says, “We feel people are on the front lines of the same issues that Martin Luther King Jr. worked on. And I always remind people that he told us to give us the ballot before he told us about his dream. It’s also important to remember that Dr. King was not only a scholar and minister, but an activist. He saw what was wrong and helped organize change.”

With 2024 a major election year and with the nation seriously divided, Mr. King reflects on what more needs to be done. “It is daunting because of the mechanisms that are in place to divide,” he says. “That could be social media to some degree, that could be some elements of mainstream media and obviously a lot of individuals who may be influencers. Certainly, the megaphone that the former president has is probably doing the most damage, and people seem to be in denial or blind to it, seeing only what they think are the good things. We have to be very thoughtful and very direct intentional is what I would say.”

Mr. King believes the country wants to move in a different direction. “Even the people who are angry and frustrated and hostile at everyone — I can’t believe you want to stay that way. That is just not who we are as human beings. When a crisis comes, we find a way to come together, and I want us to operate the way we operate in those crises. We don’t ask, well, who is the victim? Who’s in trouble? What caused it? It doesn’t matter what your sexual orientation is, it doesn’t matter whether you are a Christian or not, it doesn’t matter. All we come to do is to help you get out of that situation and help you get to the other side.”

What he hopes for, and is working toward, is creating a climate where there can be discussions without rancor, but instead, “with an understanding that there are far more things that we have in common than we have apart. We call ourselves the United States of America, but we are not operating as a United States. We are operating as a fragmented, dysfunctional, very tragic society.”

And here, he cites his father. “My dad would’ve said that we must learn nonviolence or we may face nonexistence. We are not engaging in nonviolence and where we are, it’s not promoted. We must teach how to live together without destroying person or property and how to live in a civil society. You have to intentionally do that.”

Sometimes, though, it’s difficult. “That may be part of why my wife and I and our daughter chose to come to Memphis on this actual anniversary. It is a hard kind of scenario for us. But I also remember that Dad was killed on April 4, 1968, and then on April 8th, my mom and the three older ones of us, my late sister Yolanda and my late brother Dexter and I, along with Mom all came to Memphis for her to continue in the tradition of my father leading that demonstration so that sanitation workers could be treated with dignity and respect and paid a fair and decent wage.”

The involvement of Mr. King and his siblings, thanks to their mother, Coretta Scott King, was a lesson that continues today in that young people are a force to be brought in to help with the struggle. The Martin Luther King III Foundation has begun a five-year initiative called Realize the Dream that involves youth. As Arndrea says, “We’re going to ignite a movement where young people will come together, stand together, work together, serve together in whatever capacity that they choose, and collectively commit and complete 100 million hours of service by the 100th birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. It’s very important for young people, particularly those who were born post-Civil Rights Movement and went through the pandemic and racial awakening — they’ve also now gone through the backlash of that. They can see how they can be a part of doing something to create the world in which they want to live in a very tangible and real way. Dr. King said that everyone can be great because everyone can serve.”

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“Remembering MLK: The Man. The Movement. The Moment.”

Rev. Jesse Jackson (second from right) and members of the clergy gather to lay the ceremonial wreath on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel where Dr. King last stood. Jackson was present at the Lorraine on that fateful day.

The National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel will present a commemoration in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s life and legacy on Thursday, April 4, the 56th anniversary of his death. Martin Luther King III, wife Arndrea Waters King, and daughter Yolanda. Renee King will participate in the ceremony, which will be live streamed for those who cannot attend in person. This year, the Museum introduces a youth component with the performing winners of its Youth Poetry and Spoken Word Competition.


The event entitled “Remembering MLK: The Man. The Movement. The Moment.” will be held in the Museum’s courtyard at 4:00 pm Central with a musical prelude followed by the commemorative service at 4:30 pm. Participants can also join the live stream via the museum’s website, YouTube and Facebook platforms.


Martin Luther King III, the oldest son of the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Mrs. Coretta Scott King, will deliver the keynote address. Mr. King is a civil rights advocate and global humanitarian, focusing on addressing the most pressing social justice issues of today. Amplifying his father’s work, Mr. King has devoted his life to promoting global human rights and eradicating racism, violence, and poverty, earning a reputation as a respected international statesman and one of the world’s most passionate advocates for the poor and oppressed.


As chairman of the Drum Major Institute (DMI), a nonprofit rooted in his father’s work over 60 years ago, Mr. King collaborates closely with his wife, Arndrea Waters King and daughter, Yolanda Renee King, to advance Dr. King’s vision of a more just and equitable world. Founded in 1961, the organization focuses on continuing the King legacy through education, action, engagement with world leaders, and collaboration with socially conscious organizations.


Arndrea Waters King, social justice activist and President of Drum Major Institute (DMI), has championed several nonviolence, anti-hate and social change initiatives throughout her life, designing programs to advance understanding and activism. She is a strong supporter of youth activism and believes in helping young people take a peaceful, effective stand for the world issues that concern them most. As president of DMI, she plays a critical role in creating strategic partnerships and managing the daily operations of this active social justice organization.


At 15 years old, Yolanda Renee King, the only grandchild of Dr. King, is an activist and children’s book author having recently published We Dream A World, a tribute to her grandparent’s legacy. Having appeared on the world stage and in national media interviews, she uses her voice to speak up on key issues including gun violence, climate change, and racial equality.


As a teen creative, Yolanda King will lead the youth segment of the commemoration with words of inspiration and introduction of the “I AM the Legacy” poetry and spoken word winners to be announced this month. The competition is designed for high school students to use the performative art of poetry on topics that identify their thoughts, solutions, or designs on how they envision freedom, equality, and justice for their future. The competition is made possible by The Memphis (TN) Chapter of The Links, Incorporated.


“This year, the commemoration is poignant as we elevate the ‘drum major instinct’ Dr. King expressed, but with the fierce urgency of now,” said Dr. Russ Wigginton, Museum President. “Given today’s climate, we recognize we all must move toward greater justice, peace, and righteousness from wherever we stand,” he said.


Each year, the Museum commemorates the tragic event that occurred on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in 1968. This year’s event features a keynote speaker, special performances, fraternal tribute, and changing the balcony wreath with a moment of silence at 6:01 pm Central when Dr. King was slain.


Rev. Dr. Dorothy Sanders Wells, the Rector of St. George’s Episcopal Church, will give remarks. Wells has recently been elected the first woman and first Black person elected as Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Mississippi.

W. Crimm Singers AKA Wakanda Chorale, a professional ensemble-in-residence of Tennessee State University’s Big Blue Opera Initiatives, will perform music of the Black experience throughout the diaspora and every genre connected to it with major emphasis on the Negro Spiritual, African American operatic, and concert repertoire, hymnody, and anthems.


During the 4:00 prelude, recorded speeches by Dr. King will broadcast in the museum courtyard. In the event of rain, the event will be held inside the museum’s Hooks Hyde Hall. For more information, visit April4th.org.

Members of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc. gather to present a wreath in memory of their fallen brother. Dr. King was a member of the fraternity.

This article is sponsored by National Civil Rights Museum.

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The Resilience: Combatting Police Violence through Policy and Public Safety

The National Civil Rights Museum hosted the first of the four-part national convening, “The Reckoning: Community Policing and Accountability” on March 30, weeks after Tyre Nichols’ death. Panelists (l-r) included: U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, sponsor of the George Floyd Act (TX)’ Alex Vitale, professor and coordinator of Policing and Social Justice Project; Cheryl Dorsey, retired LAPD sergeant and social justice advocate; moderator Joy Ann Reid, host of MSNBC’s The Reid Out”; Benjamin Crump, civil rights attorney and Wells’ family counsel; RowVaughn and Rodney Wells, parents of Tyre Nichols.

The National Civil Rights Museum will host the fourth and final national convening, entitled “The Resilience: Combatting Police Violence through Policy and Public Safety,” on March 22, 2024, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Renasant Convention Center. As part of “The Reckoning, The Resolve, The Restoration, and The Resilience” series, the museum brings together thought leaders, policymakers, surviving families, and activists to examine the historical connections of systemic racial violence and find solutions for today’s challenges. 

“The Resilience symposium is the apex of collaboration among thought leaders and activists whose commitment to public safety, justice, and dignity are born out of love for our communities,” said Museum President, Dr. Russ Wigginton. “Through tough conversations, smart strategies, and ultimate determination, we are destined to build a better world for our children, but we must begin now.”

During the symposium, participants will offer strategies and solutions to tackle police violence through policy-driven, community-led, and trauma-informed alternatives to traditional public safety methods. The event includes an opening panel, facilitated sessions, and a lunch roundtable discussion. 

The event format includes:

  • Opening Panel – From Pain to Purpose: The Courageous Activism of Police Violence Victims. The panel includes Rodney and RowVaughn Wells, parents of Tyre Nichols; Sybrina Fulton, mother of Trayvon Martin; Gwen Carr, mother of Eric Garner; Philonise Floyd, brother of George Floyd. CNN political commentator and author, Symone Sanders Townsend, is the panel moderator.
  • Facilitated Session I – Enhancing Public Safety through Community-Led & Trauma-Informed Alternatives. This session is led by Eric Cumberbatch of the Center for Policy Equity in New York City. His extensive portfolio of work is focused on undoing the impact of white supremacy in Black communities and placing power in the hands of the most vulnerable people.
  • Facilitated Session II – Advocating for Police Reform through Effective Policy Solutions. This session is facilitated by Rashawn Ray, professor, author, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, and executive director of the AIR Equity Initiative which collaboratively focuses on developing strategies to mitigate the harm caused by segregated communities with emphasis on education, workforce, safety, and health equity. 
  • Lunch Roundtable – Ending Police Violence: Strategies for Cross-Sector Collaboration. The luncheon panel includes Derrick Johnson, National President of NAACP, Raumesh Akbari, Tennessee State Senator, and is moderated by Symone Sanders Townsend.

“In the face of adversity, resilience is not merely enduring; it’s about standing firm, adapting, and advocating for change. It’s the unwavering commitment to justice, the courage to confront systemic issues, and the determination to build a safer and more equitable future for all,” said Veda Ajamu, Managing Director, DEI Programs and Community Engagement.

The museum has launched this collaborative effort to include a broad spectrum of citizens from many disciplines, industries, and roles to root out the causes at a systemic level. National and local leaders committed to seeing change in their communities and enhancing relationships between citizens and law enforcement are strongly encouraged to attend.
The four-part, national convening series — The Reckoning, The Resolve, The Reconciliation, and The Resilience — is made possible by the support of FedEx, Cummins, and The Kresge Foundation. For tickets and more information, visit civilrightsmuseum.org.

Part 3 of 4 the museum’s national convenings on September 6, “The Restoration: Community Healing for Solutions to Police Violence,” panelist Eric Cumberbatch of the Center for Policing Equity, discusses practical solutions implemented in New York City. Cumberbatch will also lead a facilitate session during The Resilience on March 22.

This article is sponsored by National Civil Rights Museum.

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NCRM Announces 32nd Freedom Award Honorees

Stacey Abrams (Credit: Kevin Lowery Photography)

On Tuesday, the National Civil Rights Museum (NCRM) announced the honorees for its 32nd Freedom Award. Each year, the museum strives to honor those who have made “exceptional contributions to civil and human rights,” with previous winners including Coretta Scott King, Oprah, Nelson Mandela, and Bono.

This year, three winners have been selected:

  • Kerry Kennedy: President of Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, a renowned human rights activist, and lawyer, Kennedy’s tireless efforts span over four decades, championing various causes such as child labor, women’s rights, environmental justice, and more.
  • Dr. Clayborne Carson: Martin Luther King Jr. Centennial Professor of History, emeritus, at Stanford University, Dr. Carson’s profound work centers on the study of Martin Luther King Jr. and the human rights movements that his legacy has inspired.
  • Stacey Abrams: A bestselling author, civil rights activist, and political leader, Abrams is a trailblazer, becoming the first Black woman to be the gubernatorial nominee for a major party in United States history. She has founded multiple nonprofit organizations dedicated to voting rights and addressing social and economic issues.
Dr. Clayborne Carson (Courtesy NCRM)
Kerry Kennedy (Courtesy NCRM)

The NCRM will host its award ceremony, hosted by actor and philanthropist Tobias Truvillion, on Thursday, October 19th, at the Orpheum Theatre at 7 p.m., and will feature entertainment including poet J. Ivy and Let It Happen. A pre-gala event will take place at 5:30 p.m. next door at the Halloran Centre.

In addition, the NCRM will hold a student forum at 10 a.m. the same day, which “aims to empower middle and high school students to take action and create positive change within their communities,” per the museum.

Tickets for the event will go on sale starting August 1st. For more information about the event, visit freedomaward.org.

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“A Requiem for King”

Ernest Withers’ photographs illustrating Memphis in 1968. (Photo: Abigail Morici)

Last month, to honor the 55th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the National Civil Rights Museum unveiled “Waddell, Withers, & Smith: A Requiem for King,” an exhibition highlighting three Memphis-based artists whose work responded to King’s assassination and the Civil Rights Movement: self-taught sculptor James Waddell Jr., photojournalist Ernest Withers, and multimedia artist Dolph Smith.

“It goes to show the levels of Dr. King and how many people he impacted,” NCRM associate curator Ryan Jones says of the exhibit. “He didn’t just impact people who were civil rights leaders and human rights activists; he impacted people who were artists. And so this goes to show what he meant as a man and that people here in this great community of Memphis have channeled and responded to something that has been a dark cloud over the city in the past 55 years. Dr. King impacted the hearts and minds of so many citizens.”

Each of the three artists were born and raised in Memphis, Jones says, and all served in the military, with their respective services being turning points in their artistic careers. Withers, a World War II veteran, learned his craft at the Army School of Photography. He would then go on to photograph some of the most iconic moments of the Civil Rights Movement, including King’s fateful visit to Memphis, the priceless images for which line the exhibition’s walls.

“We can’t tell the story of the modern Civil Rights Movement without the role of photography,” Jones says, and truly, Withers played one of the most significant roles in documenting that history, capturing approximately 1.8 million photographs before his death at 85 years old in 2007.

At the same time Withers was documenting King’s Memphis visit and the aftermath of his assassination, James Waddell (who happened to later be photographed by Withers) was serving in the Vietnam War and didn’t learn what had happened in Memphis until weeks later. For Waddell and his family, King’s death marked a period of pain and grief — “His relatives compared the assassination to a death in the family,” reads the exhibit’s wall text.

“[Sculpture] was his way of reacting to the tragedy that had happened,” Jones says. “He said that living in Memphis and being a native Memphian and not doing the work would be something he would never be able to get over.” So when he returned home, Waddell channeled this grief in the work now on display — an aluminum-cast bust of King and Mountaintop Vision, a bronze statue of King kneeling on a mountaintop with an open Bible. “It shows he’s humbling himself to God,” Waddell said of the sculpture in a 1986 interview in The Commercial Appeal with Anthony Hicks. 

James Waddell’s Mountaintop Vision (Photo: Abigail Morici)

Initially, as the 1986 article reveals, Waddell planned to create an eight-foot version of Mountaintop Vision as “the city’s first statue of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.” “The time is right, because Memphis is beginning to voice an opinion that there is a need for a statue,” Waddell told The Commercial Appeal. “This will be a tool for understanding.”

Waddell, who has since passed, said he hoped “to see the finished piece placed at the proposed Lorraine Motel Civil Rights Museum, Clayborn Temple, or in Martin Luther King Jr. Riverside Park.” Though that eight-foot version never came to fruition, at long last, the smaller version of Waddell’s Mountaintop Vision can be seen not only in a public display for the first time, but also at the National Civil Rights Museum as he once had envisioned. 

Dolph Smith’s The Veil of the Temple Was Rent in Two (Photo: Abigail Morici)

Meanwhile, Dolph Smith, who had long since returned home from the Vietnam War, was in Memphis the night of King’s assassination. As Memphis was set ablaze that night, he and his family stood on the roof of their home, watching the smoke rise around them. He vowed to never forget that date — April 4, 1968. In his personal calendar for that day, he wrote, “If this has happened in Memphis, then now I know it can happen anywhere. It is so hard to believe a man’s basic instinct is to be good.”

In response to what he called “an unspeakable tragedy” and the public uprising that arose from it, Smith took to the canvas. For one piece on display at the museum, titled The Veil of the Temple Was Rent in Two, the artist ripped an American flag, placing photographs of the Civil Rights Movement in between its tears, as Jones says, “to show the extreme divisiveness that the assassination caused.”

In all, Jones hopes the exhibit will show the reach of King’s legacy extending beyond April 4, 1968, all the way to the present day. In one of the videos projected on the exhibition’s walls, Smith, now at 89 years old, speaks on the importance of witnessing artwork like the pieces on display. “If you make something and it just sits there, it’s unfinished,” Smith says. To him — a painter, bookmaker, and educator — in order for a work of art to be “finished,” it has to be shared, for the mission of the artist is not simply to create but to spark conversation, to encourage self-reflection, and in cases like that of Withers, Waddell, and Smith, to activate progress.

“Waddell, Withers, & Smith: A Requiem for King” is on display at the National Civil Rights Museum through August 28th.

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The Poor People’s Campaign: a Next-to-Last Stop in Memphis

Poor People's Campaign marchers on Mulberry Street. (Photo by Jackson Baker).


There damn sure are two Americas. There is the America that venerates someone they call, somewhat archaically,  “President Trump,” and plan, as billboards on our thoroughfares are now telling us, to convene with him right here in the area on June 18. And there is another America that won’t be at that meeting, an America whose sentinels — 1,000 to 1,500 strong — marched on Monday afternoon from Robert Church Park to the National Civil Rights Museum, chanting and singing.

“We are ready/ united we go/ bringing the power/ here we go/ all together/ here we go…,” they sang. And their signs told their mission — “The Poor People’s Campaign” — and their sentiments — “Everybody’s Got a Right to Live” (alternatively, “Todo El Mundo Tiene Derechos A Vivir”), and even some of their impossible presumptions — “Vote Out the Republican-Appointed Judges” and “End Capitalism.”

Yes, the Poor People’s Campaign. A revival of the very movement that the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was on his way to creating when he was assassinated, just short of the mountaintop, here in Memphis more than half a century ago. And this reconvening, too, has a convocation slated for June 18. That one will take place in Washington, D.C., and Monday’s Memphis rally was intended as the last climactic prelude to that event.

There was more singing when the cadres gathered at the National Civil Rights Museum, there was a trumpet solo of “A Change Will Come,” and the clergy of three faiths — Christian, Jewish, and Islamic — celebrated the occasion, even throwing in a side reference to the Bhagavad Gita, thereby evoking yet another religion of humankind.

And there was the Rev. William Barber, who described himself modestly as “co-chairman of the Poor People’s Campaign” and began his remarks with a disclaimer: “I’m honored to be here with you today. … Nobody here is more important than anybody else. Ain’t no first, ain’t no seconds. We are just one.” He continued: “So I’m gonna ask three people from Mississippi, three people from Kentucky, maybe from Arkansas, three people in Tennessee — preferably some of those between 20 and 45 or so — run on up here and come stay with me. Because that’s another thing in the Poor People’s Campaign — we don’t ever stand at the podium alone because this is not about any one person.” After the requested assemblage sorted itself out and stood in place behind him, he began to do his best to make that last assertion — “We are just one” — a reality.

The Rev. William Barber at the National Civil Rights Museum. (Photo by Jackson Baker)


Make no mistake: Rev. Barber, not Al Sharpton of the Tawana Brawley caper and MSNBC, is the ranking  social missionary these days among the black clergy, the successor-in-waiting to Jesse Jackson and, for that matter, to Dr. Martin Luther King. This bear-like man with basso profundo tones and a cadence that indeed seems to come straight from God. It is possible to extract from his hour-long message several shafts of golden rhetoric, and so we shall, but with this caveat: You had to be there, you always have to be there with Rev. Barber, the whole of whose message is always greater than the sum of its parts. He speaks with a hypnotic mantra that has to be experienced direct to be fully appreciated.

Nevertheless, for the record, here are some of the promised extracts:

Barber spoke to the “sacredness” of the venue this way: “The Bible says we gotta be careful because some people love the tombs of the prophets. But they don’t necessarily love the prophets and there are some folks that have come to the prophets’ tombs while they’re dead but would not dare come while they were still living.”

He made clear what he regarded as the source of his inspiration: “It was clear that we needed a mass assembly. This came after two national tours, visiting over 40 states being invited by the people. This was not a moment that some folk in D.C. decided they want to have and they start telling the people what to do. [It’s] the people from the bottom up.” And this was no mere ceremony: “You don’t need any more commemorations. We need re-engagement. We don’t need to keep talking about crucifixions, we need to start out as a resurrection.”

He dispelled what he saw as obstructive illusions to this resurrection: “If we were gonna be accurate, the truth of the matter is, Dr. King was hated. Dr. King was put out of the Baptist denomination. Threw him out! Preachers, civil rights leaders, and every major civil rights organization wrote resolutions against him when he connected poverty and racism and militarism, everyone. Even SCLC was split up. They were split [because] the poor folks campaign wanted to organize the wretched of the earth.” 

Dr. King’s last sermon, the one written but never given, was entitled “America May Go to Hell,” he proclaimed.

Again: “Nothing would be more tragic than for us to turn back now. This is not about nostalgia. It’s not about just remembering the past.”

Neither Memphis as a community nor the state of Tennessee were spared: “It’s been 54 years since the sanitation workers strike and right here in Memphis they still don’t have union rights. … People in this city stopped a pipeline company that would damage the black community. There are attempts by that company to find other ways to bring toxic waste, and to get the legislature to write laws that would keep black communities from blocking the pipeline. We don’t need nostalgia. We need a movement now because nothing would be more tragic than to turn back now!”

Further: “You have a governor in this state who will go to black events and talk about Dr. King and how he loves Dr. King stuff [while] trashing everything Dr. King stood for. Talking about we need to get back to normal after Covid! You know what the hell normal was?  Forty-six percent of all the people in Tennessee poor and low wealth.  It’s 1. 3 million residents.  It’s 56 percent of all the children in this state. 1 million black people, 2 million white people, 740,000 uninsured, 8,300 people homeless, 1.3 million people making under 15 dollars an hour, 51 percent of the workforce in Tennessee today work for less than a living wage. We don’t need no more notice. We need a resurrection!

“Before Covid hit, poor people were dying at a rate of 700 a day, a quarter million a year. And during Covid, poor people died at a rate two to five times higher than other folks. The virus didn’t discriminate, but we did: 8 million more people fell into poverty while billionaires have made over $2 trillion. We don’t need that. We need a resurrection!”

What was called for? “A living wage, guaranteed health care, guaranteed housing, just basic, fundamental human rights. … We’ve got less voting rights today than we had ever since 1960. … We’ve made a billionaire every 33 hours, every 33 hours a million people have fallen into poverty.”

Not that his concerns were restricted to the economic sphere: Barber condemned ” a form of theological malpractice in modern day terrorism. They claim that a agenda for God is hating gay people, being against abortion, being for guns, being for praying the schools and for a particular party whose name starts with R.”

There was more of the same, full of repetition and rolling thunder and dashes of humor (as when he invoked “ Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Negro”). And, after a final, extended crescendo, the Rev. Barber would close: “It is time to turn to your neighbor and say, ‘Neighbor, you know it’s time for me to go to the meeting … it’s time to get a hold of this nation. Are you ready?”

The minions he had addressed had already said, in their arrival chant, that they were.

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NCRM Hosts Exhibit Reflecting on St. Jude’s Legacy of Defying Racial Inequities

Dr. Rudolph Jackson is featured in the Pioneer portion of the exhibit. (Photo: Courtesy St. Jude/NCRM)

In honor of Black History Month, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and ALSAC, the hospital’s fundraising and awareness organization, have partnered with the National Civil Rights Museum in an exhibit reflecting on St. Jude’s legacy of defying racial inequities within healthcare.

“St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital was founded as a beacon of inclusion and equality, and I couldn’t think of a better place to share that history than the National Civil Rights Museum,” says Richard C. Shadyac Jr., president and CEO of ALSAC. “We encourage everyone to visit this amazing museum to learn more about the connected civil rights stories of Memphis, ALSAC, and St. Jude.”

The interactive poster installation traces St. Jude’s history starting with its 1962 founding as the first fully integrated children’s hospital in the South at the height of segregation. With QR codes that direct visitors to video footage and webpages, guests can read about and hear the stories of three people: Paul Williams, the African-American architect who designed the original star-shaped hospital building; patient Courtney, whose life St. Jude’s care helped save; and Dr. Rudolph Jackson, one of the first Black doctors at the institution.

“When I first came here in ’68, I came here as part of the sickle cell program,” Jackson says in one of the exhibit’s videos. “The entire country and the world were going through the same kinds of things that we were seeing in Memphis. There was the school strike going on, the garbage strike, marches. … I wanted to do something for particularly African Americans who could not afford healthcare. The kind of healthcare people get here at St. Jude, you can’t purchase. It’s so great to find so many people who have the same ideas and work three times as hard.” Jackson has passed away since the filming of this video.

The exhibit is on display through March 8th in the guest lounge on the second floor of the museum.

“ALSAC & St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital’s Commitment To Equity And Inclusion For All Children,”

National Civil Rights Museum, 450 Mulberry, on display through March 8th.

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National Civil Rights Museum Hosts Virtual “Remembering MLK” Event

Brian Nabors (Photo: Courtesy briannabors.com)

On Easter Sunday, the National Civil Rights Museum will present a virtual commemoration in honor of Dr. Marin Luther King Jr.’s life and legacy on the 53rd anniversary of his death. This year’s event will feature a conversation with Rev. James Lawson, a key King ally in pursuit of nonviolent philosophy who trained a number of activists on civil disobedience. A performance of “Precious Lord,” Dr. King’s favorite gospel hymn, will be presented by the vocal ensemble Adajjyo. A keynote from Dr. Bernard Richardson, Dean of Rankin Chapel at Howard University, will explore King’s last days. The broadcast will culminate with a moment of silence at 6:01 p.m., the time King was shot on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel.

Following the commemoration is the world premiere of “Caged,” a commissioned Chamber Orchestra piece by African-American composer Brian Nabors, performed by Iris Orchestra and Memphis Symphony Orchestra Diversity Fellows. The piece takes listeners on an energetic, rhapsodic journey through a range of emotions.

“This work embodies our need to ‘let loose’ and release the restrictive tension that quarantining and the pandemic as a whole brought upon us,” Nabors says. “This piece pairs the barbarous with the deeply introspective and brings listeners to an inward reconciling of the grief many are feeling during this difficult time. Although we may feel ‘caged’ at the moment, the power of music is what continues to lift our spirits and will eventually pull us through to the other side.”

Both groups of artist fellows will also present a live outdoor performance in Overton Square on April 11th at 3 p.m. The concert will showcase underrepresented composers and feature a live premiere of “Caged.” Nabors will attend and give an exclusive introduction to his work.

Remembering MLK, online from the National Civil Rights Museum, civilrightsmuseum.org, Sunday, Apr. 4, 5 p.m., free.

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News News Blog

Museums’ COVID Closings Extend Into January

CREDIT: Jon W. Sparks

Jon W. Sparks

Spring, Summer, Fall at the Brooks Museum by Wheeler Williams

Most museums are temporarily closing their doors due to recent COVID restrictions. This list will be updated as needed.

  • Memphis Brooks Museum of Art will remain closed until Wednesday, January 6th. This includes all public programming.
  • The National Civil Rights Museum is temporarily closed until further notice.
  • The Pink Palace Museum closes December 24th at 2 p.m. through January 23rd.
  • The Metal Museum buildings and grounds will remain closed through the New Year and will reopen to the public on Friday, January 8th.
  • Stax Museum will be closed from December 24th through January 4th.
  • The Dixon Gallery and Gardens will continue to be open except for Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and New Year’s Day. It has a strict capacity limit and requires guests to wear masks and social distance during their visit.
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Cover Feature News

2021: Here’s Looking at You

If 2020 was the year of despair, 2021 appears to be the year of hope.

Wanna see what that could look like? Cast your gaze to Wuhan, China, birthplace of COVID-19.

News footage from Business Insider shows hundreds of carefree young people gathered in a massive swimming pool, dancing and splashing at a rock concert. They are effortlessly close together and there’s not a mask in sight. Bars and restaurants are packed with maskless revelers. Night markets are jammed. Business owners smile, remember the bleak times, and say the worst is behind them. How far behind? There’s already a COVID-19 museum in Wuhan.

That could be Memphis (once again) one day. But that day is still likely months off. Vaccines arrived here in mid-December. Early doses rightfully went to frontline healthcare workers. Doses for the masses won’t likely come until April or May, according to health experts.

While we still cannot predict exactly “what” Memphians will be (can be?) doing next year, we can tell you “where” they might be doing it. New places will open their doors next year, and Memphis is set for some pretty big upgrades.

But it doesn’t stop there. “Memphis has momentum” was Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland’s catchphrase as he won a second term for the office last October. It did. New building projects bloomed like the Agricenter’s sunflowers. And it still does. Believe it or not, not even COVID-19 could douse developers’ multi-million-dollar optimism on the city.

Here are few big projects slated to open in 2021:

Renasant Convention Center

Throughout 2020, crews have been hard at work inside and outside the building once called the Cook Convention Center.

City officials and Memphis Tourism broke ground on a $200-million renovation project for the building in January 2020. The project will bring natural light and color to the once dark and drab convention center built in 1974. The first events are planned for the Renasant Convention Center in the new year.

Memphis International Airport

Memphis International Airport

Expect the ribbon to be cut on Memphis International Airport’s $245-million concourse modernization project in 2021. The project was launched in 2014 in an effort to upgrade the airport’s concourse to modern standards and to right-size the space after Delta de-hubbed the airport.

Once finished, all gates, restaurants, shops, and more will be located in a single concourse. The space will have higher ceilings, more natural light, wider corridors, moving walkways, children’s play areas, a stage for live music, and more.

Collage Dance Collective

The beautiful new building on the corner of Tillman and Sam Cooper is set to open next year in an $11-million move for the Collage Dance Collective.

The 22,000-square-foot performing arts school will feature five studios, office space, a dressing room, a study lounge, 70 parking spaces, and a physical therapy area.

The Memphian Hotel

The Memphian Hotel

A Facebook post by The Memphian Hotel reads, “Who is ready for 2021?” The hotel is, apparently. Developers told the Daily Memphian recently that the 106-room, $24-million hotel is slated to open in April.

“Walking the line between offbeat and elevated, The Memphian will give guests a genuine taste of Midtown’s unconventional personality, truly capturing the free spirit of the storied art district in which the property sits,” reads a news release.

Watch for work to begin next year on big projects in Cooper-Young, the Snuff District, Liberty Park, Tom Lee Park, and The Walk. — Toby Sells

Book ‘Em

After the Spanish flu epidemic and World War I came a flood of convention-defying fiction as authors wrestled with the trauma they had lived through. E.M. Forster confronted colonialism and rigid gender norms in A Passage to India. Virginia Woolf published Mrs. Dalloway. James Joyce gave readers Ulysses. Langston Hughes’ first collection, The Weary Blues, was released.

It’s too early to tell what authors and poets will make of 2020, a year in which America failed to contain the coronavirus. This reader, though, is eager to see what comes.

Though I’ve been a bit too nervous to look very far into 2021 (I don’t want to jinx it, you know?), there are a few books already on my to-read list. First up, I’m excited for MLK50 founding managing editor Deborah Douglas’ U.S. Civil Rights Trail, due in January. Douglas lives in Chicago now, but there’s sure to be some Memphis in that tome.

Next, Ed Tarkington’s The Fortunate Ones, also due in January, examines privilege and corruption on Nashville’s Capitol Hill. Early reviews have compared Tarkington to a young Pat Conroy. For anyone disappointed in Tennessee’s response to any of this year’s crises, The Fortunate Ones is not to be missed.

Most exciting, perhaps, is the forthcoming Black Panther: Tales of Wakanda prose anthology, expected February 2nd. The anthology is edited by Memphis-born journalist Jesse J. Holland, and also features a story by him, as well as Memphians Sheree Renée Thomas, Troy L. Wiggins, and Danian Darrell Jerry.

“To be in pages with so many Memphis writers just feels wonderful,” Thomas told me when I called her to chat about the good news. “It’s a little surreal, but it’s fun,” Jerry adds, explaining that he’s been a Marvel comics fan since childhood. “I get to mix some of those childhood imaginings with some of the skills I’ve worked to acquire over the years.”

Though these books give just a glimpse at the literary landscape of the coming year, if they’re any indication of what’s to come, then, if nothing else, Memphians will have more great stories to look forward to. — Jesse Davis

Courtesy Memphis Redbirds

AutoZone Park

Take Me Out With the Crowd

Near the end of my father’s life, we attended a Redbirds game together at AutoZone Park. A few innings into the game, Dad turned to me and said, “I like seeing you at a ballpark. I can tell your worries ease.”

Then along came 2020, the first year in at least four decades that I didn’t either play in a baseball game or watch one live, at a ballpark, peanuts and Cracker Jack a soft toss away. The pandemic damaged most sports over the last 12 months, but it all but killed minor-league baseball, the small-business version of our national pastime, one that can’t lean on television and sponsorship revenue to offset the loss of ticket-buying fans on game day. AutoZone Park going a year without baseball is the saddest absence I’ve felt in Memphis culture since moving to this remarkable town in 1991. And I’m hoping today — still 2020, dammit — that 2021 marks a revival, even if it’s gradual. In baseball terms, we fans will take a base on balls to get things going before we again swing for the fences.

All indications are that vaccines will make 2021 a better year for gathering, be it at your favorite watering hole or your favorite ballpark. Indications also suggest that restrictions will remain in place well into the spring and summer (baseball season). How many fans can a ballpark host and remain safe? How many fans will enjoy the “extras” of an evening at AutoZone Park — that sunset over the Peabody, that last beer in the seventh inning — if a mask must be worn as part of the experience? And what kind of operation will we see when the gates again open? Remember, these are small businesses. Redbirds president Craig Unger can be seen helping roll out the tarp when a July thunderstorm interrupts the Redbirds and Iowa Cubs. What will “business as usual” mean for Triple-A baseball as we emerge from the pandemic?

I wrote down three words and taped them up on my home-office wall last March: patience, determination, and empathy. With a few more doses of each — and yes, millions of doses of one vaccine or another — the sports world will regain crowd-thrilling normalcy. For me, it will start when I take a seat again in my happy place. It’s been a long, long time, Dad, since my worries properly eased.— Frank Murtaugh

Film in 2021: Don’t Give up Hope

“Nobody knows anything.” Never has William Goldman’s immortal statement about Hollywood been more true. Simply put, 2020 was a disaster for the industry. The pandemic closed theaters and called Hollywood’s entire business model into question. Warner Brothers’ announcement that it would stream all of its 2021 offerings on HBO Max sent shock waves through the industry. Some said it was the death knell for theaters.

I don’t buy it. Warner Brothers, owned by AT&T and locked in a streaming war with Netflix and Disney, are chasing the favor of Wall Street investors, who love the rent-seeking streaming model. But there’s just too much money on the table to abandon theaters. 2019 was a record year at the box office, with $42 billion in worldwide take, $11.4 billion of which was from North America. Theatrical distribution is a proven business model that has worked for 120 years. Netflix, on the other hand, is $12 billion in debt.

Will audiences return to theaters once we’ve vaccinated our way out of the coronavirus-shaped hole we’re in? Prediction at this point is a mug’s game, but signs point to yes. Tenet, which will be the year’s biggest film, grossed $303 million in overseas markets where the virus was reasonably under control. In China, where the pandemic started, a film called My People, My Homeland has brought in $422 million since October 1st. I don’t know about y’all, but once I get my jab, they’re going to have to drag me out of the movie theater.

There will be quite a bit to watch. With the exception of Wonder Woman 1984, the 2020 blockbusters were pushed to 2021, including Dune, Spielberg’s West Side Story remake, the latest James Bond installment No Time to Die, Marvel’s much-anticipated Black Widow, Top Gun: Maverick, and Godzilla vs. Kong. Memphis director Craig Brewer’s second film with Eddie Murphy, the long-awaited Coming 2 America, will bow on Amazon March 5th, with the possibility of a theatrical run still in the cards.

There’s no shortage of smaller, excellent films on tap. Regina King’s directorial debut One Night in Miami, about a meeting between Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali, Sam Cooke, and Jim Brown, premieres January 15th. Minari, the stunning story of Korean immigrants in rural Arkansas, which was Indie Memphis 2020’s centerpiece film, lands February 12th. The Bob’s Burgers movie starts cooking April 9th. And coolest of all, next month Indie Memphis will partner with Sundance to bring the latest in cutting-edge cinema to the Malco Summer Drive-In. There’s plenty to be hopeful for in the new year. — Chris McCoy

Looking Ahead: Music

We usually highlight the upcoming hot concerts in this space, but those are still on the back burner. Instead, get a load of these stacks of hot wax (and streams) dropping next year. Remember, the artists get a better share when you purchase rather than stream, especially physical product like vinyl.

Alysse Gafkjen

Julien Baker

One of the biggest-profile releases will be Julien Baker’s Little Oblivians, due out on Matador in February. Her single “Faith Healer” gives us a taste of what to expect. Watch the Flyer for more on that soon. As for other drops from larger indie labels, Merge will offer up A Little More Time with Reigning Sound in May (full disclosure: this all-Memphis version of the band includes yours truly).

Closer to home, John Paul Keith’s The Rhythm of the City also drops in February, co-released by hometown label Madjack and Italian imprint Wild Honey. Madjack will also offer up albums by Mark Edgar Stuart and Jed Zimmerman, the latter having been produced by Stuart. Matt Ross-Spang is mixing Zimmerman’s record, and there’s much buzz surrounding it (but don’t worry, it’s properly grounded).

Jeremy Stanfill mines similar Americana territory, and he’ll release new work on the Blue Barrel imprint. Meanwhile, look for more off-kilter sounds from Los Psychosis and Alicja Trout’s Alicja-Pop project, both on Black & Wyatt. That label will also be honored with a compilation of their best releases so far, by Head Perfume out of Dresden. On the quieter side of off-kilter, look for Aquarian Blood’s Sending the Golden Hour on Goner in May.

Bruce Watson’s Delta-Sonic Sound studio has been busy, and affiliated label Bible & Tire Recording Co. will release a big haul of old-school gospel, some new, some archival, including artists Elizabeth King and Pastor Jack Ward, and compilations from the old J.C.R. and D-Vine Spiritual labels. Meanwhile, Big Legal Mess will drop new work from singer/songwriter Alexa Rose and, in March, Luna 68 — the first new album from the City Champs in 10 years. Expect more groovy organ and guitar boogaloo jazz from the trio, with a heaping spoonful of science-fiction exotica to boot.

Many more artists will surely be releasing Bandcamp singles, EPs, and more, but for web-based content that’s thinking outside of the stream, look for the January premiere of Unapologetic’s UNDRGRNDAF RADIO, to be unveiled on weareunapologetic.com and their dedicated app. — Alex Greene

Chewing Over a Tough Year

Beware the biohazard.

Samuel X. Cicci

The Beauty Shop

Perhaps a bit hyperbolic, but the image that pops into my head when thinking about restaurants in 2020 are the contagion-esque geo-domes that Karen Carrier set up on the back patio of the Beauty Shop. A clever conceit, but also a necessary one — a move designed to keep diners safe and separated when going out to eat. If it all seems a little bizarre, well, that’s what 2020 was thanks to COVID-19.

We saw openings, closings, restrictions, restrictions lifted, restrictions then put back in place; the Memphis Restaurant Association and Shelby County Health Department arguing back and forth over COVID guidelines, with both safety and survival at stake; and establishments scrambling to find creative ways to drum up business. The Beauty Shop domes were one such example. The Reilly’s Downtown Majestic Grille, on the other hand, transformed into Cocozza, an Italian ghost concept restaurant put into place until it was safe to reopen Majestic in its entirety. Other places, like Global Café, put efforts in place to help provide meals to healthcare professionals or those who had fallen into financial hardship during the pandemic.

Unfortunately, not every restaurant was able to survive the pandemic. The popular Lucky Cat Ramen on Broad Ave. closed its doors, as did places like Puck Food Hall, 3rd & Court, Avenue Coffee, Midtown Crossing Grill, and many others.

But it wasn’t all doom and gloom. Working in the hospitality business requires a certain kind of resilience, and that showed up in spades. Many restaurants adapted to new regulations quickly, and with aplomb, doing their best to create a safe environment for hungry Memphians all while churning out takeout and delivery orders.

And even amid a pandemic backdrop, many aspiring restaurateurs tried their hand at opening their own places. Chip and Amanda Dunham branched out from the now-closed Grove Grill to open Magnolia & May, a country brasserie in East Memphis. Just a few blocks away, a new breakfast joint popped up in Southall Café. Downtown, the Memphis Chess Club opened its doors, complete with a full-service café and restaurant. Down in Whitehaven, Ken and Mary Olds created Muggin Coffeehouse, the first locally owned coffee shop in the neighborhood. And entrepreneurial-minded folks started up their own delivery-only ventures, like Brittney Adu’s Furloaved Breads + Bakery.

So what will next year bring? With everything thrown out of whack, I’m loath to make predictions, but with a vaccine on the horizon, I’m hoping (fingers crossed) that it becomes safer to eat out soon, and the restaurant industry can begin a long-overdue recovery. And to leave you with what will hopefully be a metaphor for restaurants in 2021: By next summer, Andy Ticer and Michael Hudman’s Hog & Hominy will complete its Phoenician rebirth from the ashes of a disastrous fire and open its doors once again.

In the meantime, keep supporting your local restaurants! — Samuel X. Cicci

“Your Tickets Will be at Will Call”

Oh, to hear those words again, and plenty of arts organizations are eager to say them. The pandemic wrecked the seasons for performing arts groups and did plenty of damage to museums and galleries.

Not that they haven’t made valiant and innovative efforts to entertain from afar with virtual programming.

But they’re all hoping to mount physical, not virtual, seasons in the coming year.

Playhouse on the Square suspended scheduled in-person stage productions until June 2021. This includes the 52nd season lineup of performances that were to be on the stages of Playhouse on the Square, The Circuit Playhouse, and TheatreWorks at the Square. It continues to offer the Playhouse at Home Series, digital content via its website and social media.

Theatre Memphis celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2021 and is eager to show off its new facility, a major renovation that was going to shut it down most of 2020 anyway while it expanded common spaces and added restrooms and production space while updating dressing rooms and administrative offices. But the hoped-for August opening was pushed back, and it plans to reschedule the programming for this season to next.

Hattiloo Theatre will continue to offer free online programming in youth acting and technical theater, and it has brought a five-week playwright’s workshop and free Zoom panel discussions with national figures in Black theater. Like the other institutions, it is eager to get back to the performing stage when conditions allow.

Ballet Memphis has relied on media and platforms that don’t require contact, either among audience members or dancers. But if there are fewer partnerings among dancers, there are more solos, and group movement is well-distanced. The organization has put several short pieces on video, releasing some and holding the rest for early next year. It typically doesn’t start a season until late summer or early fall, so the hope is to get back into it without missing a step.

Opera Memphis is active with its live Sing2Me program of mobile opera concerts and programming on social media. Its typical season starts with 30 Days of Opera in August that usually leads to its first big production of the season, so, COVID willing, that may emerge.

Courtesy Memphis Brooks Museum of Art and Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art

Dana Claxton, Headdress at the Brooks earlier this year.

Museums and galleries, such as the Dixon Gallery & Gardens, Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, National Civil Rights Museum, and the Metal Museum are functioning at limited capacity, but people can go and enjoy the offerings. The scope of the shows is limited, as coronavirus has put the kibosh on blockbuster shows for now. Look for easing of protocols as the situation allows in the coming year. — Jon W. Sparks

Politics

Oyez. Oyez. Oh yes, there is one year out of every four in which regularly scheduled elections are not held in Shelby County, and 2021 is such a year. But decisions will be made during the year by the Republican super-majority of the state legislature in Nashville that will have a significant bearing on the elections that will occur in the three-year cycle of 2022-2024 and, in fact, on those occurring through 2030.

This would be in the course of the constitutionally required ritual during which district lines are redefined every 10 years for the decade to come, in the case of legislative seats and Congressional districts. The U.S. Congress, on the basis of population figures provided by the U.S. Census Bureau, will have allocated to each state its appropriate share of the 435 members of the U.S. House of Representatives. And the state legislature will determine how that number is apportioned statewide. The current number of Tennessee’s Congressional seats is nine. The state’s legislative ratio is fixed at 99 state House members and 33 members of the state Senate.

Tennessee is one of 37 states in which, as indicated, the state legislature calls the shots for both Congressional and state redistricting. The resultant redistricting undergoes an approval process like any other measure, requiring a positive vote in both the state Senate and the state House, with the Governor empowered to consent or veto.

No one anticipates any disagreements between any branches of government. Any friction in the redistricting process will likely involve arguments over turf between neighboring GOP legislators. Disputes emanating from the minority Democrats will no doubt be at the mercy of the courts.

The forthcoming legislative session is expected to be lively, including holdover issues relating to constitutional carry (the scrapping of permits for firearms), private school vouchers (currently awaiting a verdict by the state Supreme Court), and, as always, abortion. Measures relating to the ongoing COVID crisis and vaccine distribution are expected, as is a proposal to give elected county executives primacy over health departments in counties where the latter exist.

There is no discernible disharmony between those two entities in Shelby County, whose government has devoted considerable attention over the last year to efforts to control the pandemic and offset its effects. Those will continue, as well as efforts to broaden the general inclusiveness of county government vis-à-vis ethnic and gender groups.

It is still a bit premature to speculate on future shifts of political ambition, except to say that numerous personalities, in both city and county government, are eyeing the prospects of succeeding Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland in 2023. And several Democrats are looking at a potential race against District Attorney General Amy Weirich in 2022.

There are strong rumors that, after a false start or two, Memphis will follow the lead of several East Tennessee co-ops and finally depart from TVA.

And meanwhile, in March, the aforesaid Tennessee Democrats will select a new chair from numerous applicants. — Jackson Baker