America’s National Civil Rights Museum, the converted motel where Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated, reopened its doors on Saturday – the day after the 46th anniversary of King’s death – following an extensive redevelopment.
The Memphis museum has undergone a US$27.5m (€20m, £16.8m) renovation – the culmination of 18-months’ construction led by architects Self+Tucker – to complete the remodelling of the 23-year-old attraction.
Now boasting 52,000sq ft (4,831sq m) of exhibition space, the museum features many poignant historical replicas, including one of the bus Rosa Parks sat on, plus touch screen displays and archival footage from the civil rights era.
The wide range of interactive features reflect what curators have described as the need to target people who are “more likely to reach for an iPad than a history book.”
Exhibitions take visitors on a journey through the civil rights struggle, starting with the slave trade and the notorious middle passage along which enslaved Africans were shipped across the Atlantic in horrendous conditions.
The museum features a replica of the slave ship galley, where visitors can experience the cramped conditions the shackled slaves were subjected to.
“Visitors will learn about some of the lesser known civil rights leaders through oral histories and new emotionally charged, multi-user, multi-touch interactives and visually compelling exhibitions,” said museum president Beverly Robertson.
About 200,000 people visit the museum each year – including 50,000 to 60,000 school children – and large crowds were expected for the weekend, which featured a number of forums and ceremonies to mark the reopening.
