The Lorraine Motel (civilrightsmuseum.org) at 450 Mulberry Street in Memphis, Tennessee, was built in 1925. Before World War II it was a standard Southern motel with a policy that reflected the times -- it was a "whites-only" motel. After WW II, it became a favorite of black entertainers such as Cab Calloway, Count Basie, Nat King Cole and other famed black entertainers of the day. After Martin Luther King Jr. was shot on the balcony of the motel, it was turned into a boarding house. It was due to be razed when activists, understanding its significance to the civil rights movement, arranged for it to become what it is today, the National Civil Rights Museum.
