STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
The National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis is an authority on the history of the Civil Rights Movement, from slavery to desegregation to the assassination of Martin Luther King. Now a redesign of part of the museum focuses on campaigns and struggles of the present day. Katie Riordan of WKNO reports.
KATIE RIORDAN, BYLINE: Veda Ajamu works at the National Civil Rights Museum and is standing in front of an exhibit that's deeply personal to her.
VEDA AJAMU: So what we are looking at here - artifacts that I once held when I was advocating for freedom and justice for my brother. This clemency now sign...
RIORDAN: The display tells the story of her brother, Robert Shipp, who, at the age of 21, was sentenced to life for a nonviolent drug offense under mandatory minimum guidelines enacted as part of a tough-on-crime push in the 1980s and '90s. Ajamu still gets emotional.
AJAMU: Because I think about the time that he lost. But then the other side of it, I see gratitude.
RIORDAN: Gratitude because after serving almost 26 years, Shipp was released from prison in 2019 as a result of national sentencing reforms. Throughout his detention, Ajamu worked to shed light on his case, mass incarceration and what she says are disproportionate punishments. Examples of contemporary advocates like her are now featured in the museum.
AJAMU: We also serve as a catalyst to inspire action for positive change.
RIORDAN: The core of the National Civil Rights Museum is built around the Lorraine Motel balcony where Dr. King was killed. Across the street is the Legacy Building, which is also the former rooming house where his assassin took aim. This year, the museum reopened the space after a $38 million modernization. Museum president Russ Wigginton says the goal is for younger generations to connect the past with the present.
RUSS WIGGINTON: When they think about the question, what happened to the movement after Dr. King died? There's an answer. And the answer is the ongoing civil and human rights movement of the last 50-plus years.
RIORDAN: This includes an exhibit on the Poor People's Campaign, the rise of Black political representation and movements like Black Lives Matter and the 2020 racial justice protests.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTER: (Chanting) Black lives matter.
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS: (Chanting) Black lives matter.
RIORDAN: One central gallery builds on themes of inequality from Dr. King's final book. Museum historian Ryan Jones says the installations spotlight present-day disparities in areas like housing and education.
RYAN JONES: Now you're looking at what types of things that you're being taught. Is African American history being taught? Are you getting the same opportunities in higher education?
RIORDAN: Many of these issues are currently being debated in the public square. Wigginton says it's critical for the museum to be nonpartisan and welcoming to all, but it doesn't shrink from topics that might provoke discomfort.
WIGGINTON: We try to make sure wherever you are on the comfort barometer, you at least feel like this is a place that is going to be supportive and be accurate in its complicated storytelling about this American experiment.
RIORDAN: One aspect of the original Legacy Building remains.
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UNIDENTIFIED NARRATOR: Within seconds of the shot that killed Martin Luther King Jr., the search for answers begins.
RIORDAN: The preserved bathroom and window where James Earl Ray is believed to have fired from. But now Jones, the historian, says the exhibit adds more information about enduring doubts from King's family and others that Ray acted alone.
JONES: What the museum wanted to do was to address those lingering questions in the most in-depth way possible and to provide the visitor a full, comprehensive story as to what took place.
RIORDAN: Another lingering question is, what comes next? Wigginton says the museum's expansion comes at a time when achievements of the civil rights era are being tested and rolled back. Ultimately, though, he wants people to leave inspired.
WIGGINTON: Coretta Scott King reminded us that every generation has to sort of establish its own rules around what it means to be free.
RIORDAN: And what it means to live in a civil and just society.
For NPR News, I'm Katie Riordan in Memphis. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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