Tue December 18, 2012 The Lorraine Motel The Lorraine Motel, the
site of Dr. Martin Luther King's assassination, has had a long,
uneven history. When the motel first opened in the 1920s, it was
called “The Windsor.” In that era of Jim Crow segregation, it
was one of the few hotels that welcomed black travelers.
Entertainers like Nat King Cole, Sarah Vaughan, and Louis
Armstrong stayed at the Windsor and walked the few blocks to
Beale Street. Walter Bailey bought the Windsor in 1942, and
renamed it the Lorraine. When Dr. King came to Memphis in 1968
to help the striking sanitation workers, he stayed at the
Lorraine because it was black-owned and operated. After his
death, the Lorraine became a shrine, of sorts, but the building,
and its surrounding neighborhood, slowly deteriorated. When the
Lorraine went into foreclosure, concerned citizens formed the
Martin Luther King Memorial Foundation. They raised $144,000,
and, in December 1982, purchased the building at auction. A
contribution by the American Federatio