On a typical April 4th, hundreds to thousands of people gather beneath the balcony of the former Lorraine Motel in Memphis to mark the anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s death.
This year, the courtyard is empty. The doors of the National Civil Rights Museum are locked, a reminder of the far reach of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Like many other events, the annual commemoration moved online this year. On Saturday, the public had to tune in from their own homes to watch a livestreamed compilation of tributes from iconic speakers and artists from past anniversary ceremonies. They were curated to capture Dr. King’s fight against structural inequities.
“It’s very rare that there isn’t anyone in our courtyard," says Dr. Noelle Trent, the museum’s director of education. "It makes everybody reflect...[on] what was lost 52 years ago and what we’re going through now.”
King’s crusade for the disenfranchised and vulnerable, she says, is mirrored today’s public health crisis.
“People who are struggling to find ways to feed their families while sheltering in place—people who have 40-hour week jobs but still can’t afford housing,” Trent says. “Those are fundamental human rights issues.”
One of the several excerpts that the museum replayed this year was from a 2019 keynote address from Dr. Omid Safi, a professor at Duke University.
“We know why Martin was in Memphis, because he was moved to respond to suffering,” Safi said, referencing King’s visit to draw attention to the city’s sanitation workers strike. “I want us to answer: What are we doing for those who are crushed by the machinery of today?”
A unique aspect of this year's tribute featured a rendition of “Take My Hand, Precious Lord” by a group of musicians recording themselves at home. King had requested to hear that song minutes before the assassination 52 years ago at 6:01 p.m.
Moving forward, Trent is hopeful that singular challenges emerging from the pandemic will inspire progress in the spirit of Dr. King's movement.
“How do you create community in isolation?” she asks. “I don’t think things are going to go back to normal, but we have to really think through what is the Memphis we want to see post COVID-19, and how do we create that?”