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Ranger Linda Byers | The crypt of Dr. and Mrs. King |
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M.L. KING HISTORIC SITE EXHIBIT MARKS 40th ANNIVERSARY OF DR. KING’s ASSASSINATION
‘From Memphis to Atlanta: The Drum Major Returns Home’ Opens April 4
(Atlanta—March 24, 2008) The Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site in Atlanta presents From Memphis To Atlanta: The Drum Major Returns Home, an original exhibition running April 4-August 31, 2008 in remembrance of Dr. King’s assassination forty years ago.
On April 4, 1968, the undaunted voice of Martin Luther King, Jr.—one of the world’s esteemed proponents for justice and nonviolence— was to have been silenced forever. Yet, bullets were not enough to prevent the works and teachings of the revered civil rights leader from impacting the lives of people around the world in the ensuing years.
From Memphis To Atlanta examines the final days of Dr. King’s life as he journeyed to Memphis, Tennessee campaigning on behalf of poor sanitation workers to his final return home to Atlanta for the April 9th funeral when thousands mourned his death. The exhibition features:
· A photographic display of the period April 3-9, 1968;
· The funeral wagon that carried Dr. King’s casket in the procession from historic Ebenezer Baptist Church to the public memorial service at Morehouse College;
· Exclusive prose by close acquaintances of Dr. King offering intimate insight on his leadership and legacy; and
· WHEN, a video installation by artist Barbara Bickart documenting the reaction of visitors to the site of King’s assassination, the former Lorraine Motel (now the National Civil Rights Museum).
From Memphis To Atlanta: The Drum Major Returns Home will be displayed daily at the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site, Visitor Center, 450 Auburn Avenue, Atlanta April 4-August 31, 2008. Admission is free. The site is open 7 days a week, 9am-5pm (until 6pm June 8-August 16). For more information call (404) 331-5190 or visit www.nps.gov/malu.
The Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site, established by the National Park Service in 1980, preserves and interprets the places in Atlanta where civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. was born, lived, worked, worshipped and is buried.
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