The National Civil Rights Museum, built on the site where Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated in 1968, has been the focal point of the local commemoration since before it was the museum, when it was still the Lorraine Motel. It is one of the busiest days the museum has in terms of attendance as well as visitors who come just for speeches and performances in the museum’s courtyard.

At a Chicago church, on the day after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Mississippi-bred bluesman Otis Spann delivered what arguably remains the most profound musical response to the tragedy. 

During her six-year tenure, Freeman oversaw the museum’s year-and-a-half-long commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination at the Lorraine Motel.