A 90th birthday celebration

Monday, January 21 - 8:00am-6:00pm
FREE ADMISSION with food drive & blood drive donations

On the national holiday Monday, January 21, the National Civil Rights Museum will remember the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., one of the most prolific humanitarians and leaders of the American Civil Rights Movement.  The focus of the celebration is community service and social justice in honor of Dr. King’s impact on the global society. Activities include daylong performances, youth-centered "edutainment," a health pavilion and the National Civil Rights Museum experience. In the spirit of service, the Museum will hold its annual drives for Mid-South Food Bank and Lifeblood, and serve as a center for community resources and engagement. 

FREE ADMISSION OPTIONS

  • Guests with canned good donation to King Day Food Drive receive free admission. Donations benefit Mid-South Food Bank to help feed families in the Mid-South.
  • Guests receive TWO free museum visits for four people by donating to the blood drive benefitting Vitalant (formerly Lifeblood). A donation allows the donor & 3 guests free King Day admission PLUS additional free admission any day in 2019

 

OTHER SPONSORS

 

King Day HighlightS

  • A full day of activities including Main Stage performances, an edutainment Children’s Activity Tent, a resource-rich Healthy Community Pavilion, Home Depot Arts & Crafts Tent,  the Memphis Public Library’s Tech Mobile Van, trivia contest with prizes, an Instagram photo booth, the Shelby County Schools Visual Arts team student  reporters, and WQOX 88.5FM) streaming via Facebook Live.

  • Visitors can tour the museum from 8am–6pm. Included in the tour is the exhibit Without Regard to Race or Color: The Past, Present and Future of One Historically Black College, where visitors can view photography depicting the history of Morris Brown College.

Free Admission Options
  • Guests with canned good donation to King Day Food Drive receive free admission. Donations benefit Mid-South Food Bank to help feed families in the Mid-South.
  • Guests receive TWO free museum visits for four people by donating to the blood drive benefitting Vitalant (formerly Lifeblood). A donation allows a donor & 3 guests free King Day admission PLUS additional free admission any day in 2019.

Street Closures

There will be a few street closures allowing for pedestrian-only traffic around the Museum's campus.

  • Huling Avenue at South Main Street
  • Huling Avenue at St. Martin Street
  • Butler Avenue at South Main
  • Mulberry at G.E. Patterson

  • LIMITED ACCESS to St. Martin Street from Second Avenue to G.E. Patterson

PARKING

The Museum's visitor parking lot will be closed Thursday, January 17 - Monday, January 21, due to setup of children's activities, community resources and health pavilion hosted there on the holiday.  On-street parking and public parking lots (some paid) are available off campus.

Security check

Museum visitors should leave behind weapons, tools, self-defense items that might trigger an alarm during the metal detection and bag check process. Guests will be asked to return any prohibited items to their vehicles before entering the Museum.

Photography NOTICE

Visitors may be photographed or recorded by a museum-commissioned photographer or videographer. It is not always possible to notify those who photographed. Individuals or groups photographed do not receive any compensation or have review opportunity. Images may be used for Museum archival, educational or promotional purposes.

Annual Mid-South Food Bank Drive

Admission with Canned Good/Non-Perishable Food Donations

FoodBank_logoObserved as a day of service, the King Holiday at the Museum is a chance for visitors to give back to the community and receive discounted admission by making food donations to benefit Mid-South Food Bank. Visitors bringing canned goods or non-perishable items receive special admission on January 21 only.  

Non-perishable items include canned meats (tuna, stews, chili, Spam, soups), canned fruit and veggies, canned juices, and peanut butter. NO glass containers.

The Food Drive is just one way everyone can serve the community and take in important history while honoring Dr. King's legacy. One of Dr. King's last initiatives was the Poor People's Campaign, so giving to help those in need furthers this cause. Feed the need!

About Mid-South Food Bank

King Day Vitalant blood Drive

With blood donation, receive free admission for up to 4 people.

LifebloodLogo2014Give the gift of life during the King Holiday. Vitalant (formerly Lifeblood) mobiles will be onsite on the January 21 from 8:00am to 4:00pm to receive blood donations. Donors receive free admission with express line access on King Day for up to four people PLUS four passes for free admission to the museum on another day in 2019. Also, donors who give blood the week of January 14-20 at Lifeblood Centers receive an admission voucher.

About LifeBlood

Thank you!

The Museum thanks the following in-kind sponsors and corporate volunteers without whom the King Day festivities would not be possible.

Corporation/Organization Volunteers

FedEx
Starbucks
ProTech
AABE (MLGW)
International Paper
MGM International-Goldstrike
Caesar's Heroes - Horseshoe
University of Tennessee Health Sciences Center
United States Army Corps Of Engineers
Cummins, Inc.
Veterans Affairs
A-PLUS
Valero
Muse Primary Care
Memphis Express

CHILDREN'S ACTIVITY TENT PARTICIPANTS:

African Drums with Ekpe Abioto
Balloon Artists - Balloon Grammy and Ms. B-Loonie
Button Making - NCRM Volunteers
Craft Activity - Home Depot
Face Painting - Just As Beautiful
MLK Birthday Card - NCRM Volunteers
Magician - Magic Mr. Nick
Making Protest Signs - NCRM Volunteers
McKenna Bray (singer/author of the children’s book Pippa)
Sue Schnitzer, the Singing Librarian from Memphis Public Library, Ben Hooks branch (singer and storyteller)
Earnest Shinault Librarian from Memphis Public Library, Cornelia Crenshaw branch (storyteller)

HEALTHY COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS:

A Step Ahead Foundation- parenthood planning teens
ACE Awareness Foundation
Baptist Women's Health Center - Breast Health
Baptist's Mobile Mammography Unit on the Move
BLDG Memphis
Catholic Charities of West Tenneesse***
Chiropractic Memphis
CHOICES - Memphis for Reproductive Health
Christ Community Health Services
Christian Mobile Dental Clinic
Clean Memphis
CORPRO CPR
Downtown Memphis Commission 
Fish-N-Loaves 
Fresenius Kidney Care
Friends for Life- HIV/AIDS
Healthy Homes Partnership
Healthy Kids & Teens
Inside-Out Gym
Just City
Keeper of the Dream Recipients
Kingston Briscoe/Hit Lab MMA
LeBonheur Community Health and Well-Being HIV Testing
Memphis CHOICES
Memphis Police Department
Memphis RiverParks
Memphis Friendship Foundation
Memphis Tilth
Methodist University Hospital Transplant Institute
Mid-South Food Bank
National Kidney Foundation
New Memphis Institute
OUTMemphis
Pathways to Education
People for Enforcement of Rape Laws (PERL)
Porter-Leath
Qsource
REACH Memphis
Refugee Empowerment Program
Revolutions Bike Co-op
Rise Memphis
Setting the Standard (STS) Enterprise, Inc.
Shelby County Breastfeeding Coalition
Shelby Farms Park
Sherika Fitness
Sources of Intervention Produce Seeds of Prevention (SOIPSOP)
Southern School of Optometry
St Francis Hospital Bartlett
St. Jude Sickle Cell Program
Stand for Children
The Collective
University of Memphis Memphis Speech and Hearing Center 
Vitalant (Lifeblood)
YWCA Abused Women's Services

"Life's most persistent and urgent question is what are you doing for others?"

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.