A Visit to the National Civil Rights Museum – Part One

/ Sheila Blanchette

I’m sharing Stories From the Road over on my Instagram account and will start sharing them here too. I love using pictures and words to tell a story and it’s easier to post a short story over on Instagram, hit the Facebook and Twitter buttons, and get a one stop shop for social media advertising.

Typos are a problem because my old 2002 Subaru bounces along the highways and scenic byways. Late at night in a timeshare or hotel room I find myself lying in bed editing. I am the queen of typos even without the potholes and sudden stop and go of heavy traffic.

One of the highlights of our trip has been the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee. Here are the pictures and words:

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FROM THE ROAD: LOVIN’ MEMPHIS We were on the road from Asheville to Memphis for 8 hours. The air conditioning wasn’t working and Rich was cranky. We were trying to make it by 3 o’ clock because the National Civil Rights Museum closes at five. I don’t know where to begin with this story of Memphis. This city stole our hearts and if you’ve read my books you know I have a hard time telling a story in a straight line. But I’ll start at the beginning when we got to the museum at 4:15 and stood outside the Lorraine Hotel. My eyes teared up. We both felt we were walking into history. What a special, sacred place this is. It tells the story from slavery to civil rights. A complicated, sad, often shameful piece of history. It broke our hearts and as Rich said, “Every American needs to visit this place.” I took so many photos and I’ll share them but I’m going to start with this little girl, Sheila Malone, who spoke to Sheila Blanchette née McGowan and gave me hope to keep my chin up and keep fighting for what is right and just. This is what little Sheila Malone said the day she started 1st grade at one of the 13 Memphis schools to integrate: “I said, ‘If he calls me a nigger again I’m going to hit him.’ And when he got ready to say it, I hit him in the mouth…An he started to holler, ‘She hit me, she hit me!’ And the policeman said, ‘Well you shouldn’t have called her a nigger.” More stories to come from Memphis but right now I’m tired and deeply moved by this amazing American city. #storiesfromtheroad #memphisblues #americancities #blacklivesmatter #speakup #bebrave #teachyourchildrenwell #civilrightsmuseum #resist #historymatters #messagesfromamerica

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