The Lorraine Motel in Memphis plays an important role in history (Sander, 2006). It is an integral part of the Civil Rights Movement and is  now the home of the National Civil Rights Museum (Sander, 2006).

In March 1968, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King visited Memphis to support the city's striking garbage collectors (Sander, 2006). He checked into the Lorraine, and led a march that, despite his policy of non-violence turned violent (Sander, 2006).

On April 3, in a speech at Memphis Mason Temple, Dr. King said "We've got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn't matter with me now, because "I've Been To The Mountain Top" (Sander, 2006). I won't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life."  Dr. King was assassinated at the Lorraine the next night, as he stood on the balcony outside room 306, on the motel's second floor (Sander, 2006).

In 1982 a group of Memphis businessmen bought the Lorraine Motel and made plans to remodel it and open a museum (Sander, 2006). The National Civil Rights Museum opened in 1992.

In 2002, the museum acquired the rooming house from where the fatal shot may have come, and opened exhibits on its top floor (Sander, 2006).