Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered the final speech of his too-short life at the Clayborn Temple in Memphis, Tennessee on April 3, 1968, the night before a sniper’s bullet struck him as he stood on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel. The words of his last speech in Memphis almost seemed to foreshadow his untimely passing: “I’ve […]
Principal Margaret Bland McKissick, Shelby County Schools’ longest-serving employee, began her career as an educator with the district in 1960 at the segregated Georgia Avenue Elementary School on Mississippi Boulevard in South Memphis. McKissick, now age 79, is a Memphian through and through. A native of North Memphis, she graduated from Douglass High School and […]
Early this April, the world will turn its gaze to the city of Memphis and its commemoration of 50 years since the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. They will find a Memphis that has changed precipitously over the last half-century thanks to the legacy of Dr. King, but will also realize there is […]
When Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. visited Memphis in 1968, he was focused on a Poor People’s March that represented a spectrum of issues ranging from economic justice to the healthcare system. Over the last fifty years, many of those same issues persist. Building Foundations The lack of access to healthcare in Tennessee was exacerbated […]
As the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. approaches, it merits a time to look at how the city has and hasn’t changed since 1968, and also to look at where the city is headed in the next 50 years. How has Memphis lived up to the ideals of Dr. […]
