The Architecture of Civil Rights by JUSTIN D. BARNARD Director
of the Institute for Intellectual Discipleship January 19, 2011
- The National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee
chronicles the historic struggle of African-Americans to gain
full equality under the law based upon the fullness of their
prior, though historically unrecognized, dignity as human
beings. As a repository of history and a memorial to significant
milestones in this struggle, the museum is a treasure. Its
effort to chronicle the civil rights movement is breathtaking in
its detail and, at times, moving in its presentation. A notable
example of the latter is the preservation of the Lorraine Motel
rooms overlooking the balcony upon which Dr. Martin Luther King
Jr. died. Naturally, the museum’s content is political. However,
what is striking about the political content is the seismic
shift in the grounds for political activism – a shift that
perhaps fittingly is embedded in the very architectural
structure of the museum itself. Arguab