This year, Easter fell on the same weekend as the anniversary of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s death. On the day most associated with joy and rejuvenation, the National Civil Rights Museum carried out remembrance while also imparting messages of hope and renewed commitment to a generation that better days were ahead.
King was killed on April 4, 1968 at 6:01pm on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis. A wreath marks the spot where he was shot before being rushed to John Gaston Hospital, where he would take his last breath. The spot around which a museum and historic site was built, in 1991, to honor him and carry his dream, work and legacy forward.
Russ Wiggington, president of the museum, opened the 2026 commemoration titled “Remembering MLK’s Legacy: The Man. The Movement. The Momentum.” He reminded the hybrid (in-person and virtual) audience that the ground on which the physical attendees were seated was sacred ground, a place of learning and truth, and a catalyst for social change.
“His speeches are still relevant today,” Wiggington said twice, underscoring the importance of revisiting Dr. King’s speeches, especially his last, “Mountain Top,” which was delivered in Memphis, the night before he was killed.
“Engage deeply with his words from that final year. His voice still echoes, his vision guides us, his call compels us forward,” said Wiggington, before he introduced Mayor Paul Young, Congressman Steve Cohen and Tennessee State Representative Justin Pearson.
“We gather to remember, but also to respond,” said Mayor Young of King, who, Young said, not only did so much for our city, but for the world.
“Dr. King came here for economic justice, for families, for people who deserved more,” said Young.
He went on to talk about meeting 94-year-old Andrew Young, who he said was still out doing the work, and how he was inspired by the history he represented right in front of him and First Lady, Dr. Jamila Smith-Young.
“We owe a debt to him that we are paying through progress. Dr. King asked ‘What are you doing for others?’ The answer is in what we build for Memphis,” said Young.
Congressman Cohen began his remarks by acknowledging the great work of Fannie Clark, former Tennessee Mass Choir founder and director, who were represented at the event and opened with “You Are the Greatest of All Time,” an inspirational gospel tune.
He also acknowledged that Dr. King’s speech at Mason Temple spoke against militarism, materialism and racism.
“Boy, would he be busy today. His journey is not over, his dream is not yet fulfilled. We need to follow his dream and make it come true,” said Cohen.
State Rep. Justine Pearson, whose cadence is like that of a Baptist preacher, gave spirited remarks remembering a “radical” Dr. King.
“He worked for the marginalized, not the wealthy … those who’ve been forgotten, who didn’t have titles, who society discarded but who he viewed as sacred children of God,” said Pearson.
The 31-year-old wrapped by reciting a few lines from MLK’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” and by declaring that “Until justice flows like waters, we’re going to keep fighting and Memphis is the place for it to happen.”
As has always been the case in the fight for Civil Rights, young people have been at the forefront. And today is no different.
Two young men who recently won NCRM’s “Keeper of the Dream Award,” for the embodiment of MLK’s values and their commitment to leadership and service, were also on-hand to share how the work through their non-profits is making Memphis better.
Carlos Watkins, a student at East High School, and founder of Operation Purple House, uses his platform to be a beacon to his peers, to equip them to be leaders of today and tomorrow.
Lausanne student, Christian Love, founded Opportunity Bridge 901, a youth-led digital organization that connects youth to leadership opportunities, with hopes that those who can will use their voices to make a difference.
And then singer Karen Brown delivered “A Change is Gonna Come,” by Sam Cooke.
The Southern Christian Leadership Conference, with whom MLK worked hand-in-hand during the 1950s/60s, was represented by Demark Liggins, president of the organization, whose parents are from Memphis.
“SCLC will turn 70 next year. We are still here and must lead and echo our God and His guidance. Let’s honor our legacy, lean into our leadership and insist that our action is rooted in love,” said Liggins.
A wreath ceremony and litany were performed by members of Alpha Phi Alpha, Inc., the fraternity in which MLK was a member.
Ryan Jones, director of history, interpretation and curatorial services for NCRM, invited the crowd to listen to an excerpt of MLK’s final speech, “I’ve Been to the Mountain Top,” delivered the night before the global tragedy that was his death occurred.
Listening to MLK recount the “If I had Sneezed” section of this speech was grounding.
“If I had sneezed, I wouldn’t have been around in 1961 and integrated interstate travel … I wouldn’t have been here for the Black people in Birmingham, Alabama … I wouldn’t have had a chance later that year in August to tell America about a dream I had … I wouldn’t have been able to come to Memphis, to see a community rally around those brothers and sisters who are suffering …” said Dr. King.
“It really doesn’t matter what happens now … I’ve seen the promised land. I might not get there with you, but we as a people get to the promised land …,” said Dr. King.
Less than 24 hours later, at 6:01pm, April 4, 1968, Dr. King was shot. And an hour later, he was gone. There was a moment of silence at this time at the commemoration, one hour and one minute into the program.
The choir offered “Amazing Grace” and “Precious Lord” as songs of comfort.
Assassination personal account and keynote speaker
Two powerful women were slated to share their perspectives, insights and wisdom for carrying MLK’s dream forward. Deaconess Clara Jean Ester, who was present when Dr. King was murdered, gave a personal account of what she saw that fateful day. And Rev. Nontombi Naomi Tutu, Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s daughter, delivered the keynote address.
A visibly emotional Ester, now 77, then 19-years-old, remembered “it sounded like a truck backfiring.”
“Watching him being lifted up and thrown back — I didn’t know what to do,” Ester said. “I ran up the steps, tried to get a pulse … I unbuckled his belt to try and help him breathe. I saw towels in the corner and said we need to apply pressure to stop the blood.”
She relived that traumatic moment. The pain was evident to all who listened.
“We, young and old, will continue to fight because justice is ours like everyone else’s and we demand what we deserve,” said Ester.
Those same emotions carried over into Rev. Tutu’s address.
“If there was ever a time we needed the man, the movement, the momentum, it is today,” said Tutu. “When we talk about reimagination — the way in which the powers that be have attempted to sanitize the story of Dr. King — we have to remind ourselves of the real story.”
Tutu, an episcopal priest and human rights advocate from South Africa, eloquently and spiritedly poured into the hybrid audience, urging people to seek and share the truth about who Dr. King was and how we are to be if we take the responsibility of “making sure our history isn’t sprinkled in American and world history in the shortest month of the year, but that it’s something our children are nourished with from the earliest of days.”
She spoke about how God wants this world to be good again, but it can’t while there is racism; when children are being sent across the world to kill people they don’t even know.
Tutu shared how Dr. King said that “America owes a debt to the Black people of this country for the centuries of free labor, enslavement, murder, rape, and if this country is unwilling to claim that legacy, this country will never be what it wants to be — a beacon on a hill …”
“How did we let the movement die?” asked Tutu. “How did we let ourselves be in the place we are today, where racism is alive and well and out on the streets yelling the ‘n-word’, where ICE is out there denying the humanity of God’s children?”
“Too many of us became comfortable, our worth rising, personal status being slightly better, rooms of privilege being slightly opened,” she said. “But none of us is free until ALL of us are free.”
She revered Dr. King throughout, saying he believed in the truth, that every human was worthy of respect, freedom, the ability to feed, clothe and house themselves.
Tutu concluded by saying, “As we reimagine the legacy of Dr. King, let us pledge ourselves, that we not be the man, but we are the people driven by the same dream as the man. That we are the movement that will move our world closer so that God can once again look and say ‘It is good.’ We are the carriers of the momentum to bring justice, liberation and respect to all of God’s children.”
The program ended with tears, hugs, A, B and C selections from the Tennessee Mass Choir to uplift and a benediction from Rev. Tutu. “Allow us to follow in (King’s) footsteps, trusting in Your promise to us, in a world of freedom, peace, justice, shalom.
You can view the video here.
