We found an interesting art gallery in the Arts district, saw it from the trolley, and met the owner. Carol has the details, but we were quite charmed and the collection was very eclectic. They were hosting a retrospective of a local artist who had been very sick for a month, in hopes of raising money for him and his family.

The two most impressive museums we visited were Stax Recording Studio and the National Civil Rights Museum. Stax was the home of much of the music we know from the 60’s. It went bankrupt in the 70’s and the building was taken down in the 80’s. It has been reconstructed on the original site in great detail, including the Satellite Record Store serving as the entrance and the floor of the recording studio is sloped as the original was – it has been built in an old movie theater. The National Civil Rights Museum incorporates the Lorraine Motel where MLKing was killed and the building across the street which served as the James Earl Ray’s vantage for the killing (if you accept the idea that he was the killer and not some other conspiracy theory). The history of the civil Rights Movement is detailed and the room where king was staying, 306, has been preserved. All the evidence from his murder is presented and you can make your own determination. Ray did plead guilty and die in prison. There was one more stop in Memphis, and that was at Memphis Brooks Museum of Art where there was a traveling exhibit:

Jewish Life in Ancient Egypt:

A Family Archive from the Nile Valle

http://www.brooksmuseum.org/public/exhibitions/default.asp?id=10000141

We toured the show and then went into the auditorium for a presentation by Rabbi Micah Greenberg and a professor of religious studies from University of Tennessee and an orthodox rabbi. Given the size of the Memphis Jewish community, we met people we had seen the day before and are now friends. After the lecture we went to the zoo and finished the day with dinner and relaxation back on Gee 2.