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On April 4th, 1968, Civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis Tennessee. There was an out pour of emotion from Black men, women, and children in the United States following the news. Racial tension rose even more throughout the nation leading to more than a hundred cases of civil unrest. Many expressed their anger with marching and peaceful protesting, but some instances could not stay that way and turned violent. Again in 2020 we see and have seen hurt in the hearts of many black Americans following the unjust deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor,  Ahmaud Arbery, and many others, bringing back alive, for another time, the Black Lives Matter Movement. This movement has encouraged black Americans and allies to make statements through marching and peaceful protesting.  Riots  have happened, but its questionable on how and who played the part of inciting the violence. This Living History museum will put visitors through a time capsule of a previous, but very similar time in history when people rose up and stood against the harsh reality that is racial inequality and injustice.
"The Martin Luther King Assassination Riots (1986)" - https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/martin-luther-king-assassination-riots-1968/

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A man dressed in a suite who witnessed the assassination of King speaks to the audience about what he saw that day.

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A man playing and costumed as Senator Robert Kennedy addresses the audience as citizens of the United States in a speech spoken later in the same day of the assassination. The actor would go on to quote...

" I have bad news for you, for all of our fellow citizens, and people who love peace all over the world, and that is that Martin Luther King was shot and killed tonight.

Martin Luther King dedicated his life to love and to justice for his fellow human beings, and he died because of that effort.

In this difficult day, in this difficult time for the United States, it is perhaps well to ask what kind of a nation we are and what direction we want to move in. For those of you who are black--considering the evidence there evidently is that there were white people who were responsible--you can be filled with bitterness, with hatred, and a desire for revenge. We can move in that direction as a country, in great polarization--black people amongst black, white people amongst white, filled with hatred toward one another.

Or we can make an effort, as Martin Luther King did, to understand and to comprehend, and to replace that violence, that stain of bloodshed that has spread across our land, with an effort to understand with compassion and love."

The whole speech is linked below
"Statement On Assassination Of Martin Luther King, Jr., Indianapolis, Indiana, April 4, 1968"-https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/the-kennedy-family/robert-f-kennedy/robert-f-kennedy-speeches/statement-on-assassination-of-martin-luther-king-jr-indianapolis-indiana-april-4-1968

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Object #3 Peaceful Protests in Wake of MLK Assassination

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Object #3 Peaceful Protests in Wake of MLK Assassination

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Actors adorned with signs like the ones pictured would stand, sit, or march among the audience.

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Object #4 Riots in Wake of MLK Assassination

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Object #4 Riots in Wake of MLK Assassination

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A woman costumed as the one below speaks of the riots following Dr. Kings assassination.

After King was killed, black citizens wanted all the stores to close to show their respect. Well, they didn't do that. The absence of respect started disputes between the police and citizens. Everything started out peaceful and it turned into something violent. A four day violent riot to be more specific. I saw people breaking into stores and smashing windows. Stores started writing "Soul Brother" on their windows to show their respect, but also to make it known that they were black owned. Troops and the National guard soon came. They even gave us a curfew and stopped the selling of alcohol and guns. It was instructed for the troops not to harm citizens, but they did anyway.

"The End Of An Era: The Riots After the Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr." -
https://stmuhistorymedia.org/the-end-of-an-era-the-riots-that-occurred-after-the-assassination-of-martin-luther-king-jr/

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A man dressed as the one below tells the audience about the clash between citizens and law enforcement.

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A man dressed as one of the troops below speaks on his experience in the streets amongst protesters and rioters.

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Object #7 The President Speaks (Lyndon B. Johnson)

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Object #7 The President Speaks (Lyndon B. Johnson)

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The actor portraying the President at the time, Lyndon B. Johnson, will tells the audience his thoughts, feelings, as well as his plans following the recent events...

I have empathy for black America at this time. "If I were a kid in Harlem. I know what I’d be thinking right now: I’d be thinking that the whites have declared open season on my people, and they’re going to pick us off one by one unless I get a gun and pick them off first." I of course do not promote the violence, but rather pacification and progress. "We have rolled away some of the stones of inaction, of indifference, and of injustice,” but “our work is not yet done. But we have begun.” There are calls for troops to storm cities to fix the disfunction, but I do not want to add more fuel to the fire or bloodshed despite the ongoing encouragement of harsh action. "I don’t want Americans killing Americans. I may not be doing the popular thing, or even the right thing, but no soldier in Washington has killed a civilian yet." While troops are  still invading cities, my staff and I will work on a series of proposals for congress. In one area were able to succeed with the Fair Housing Act.  While delighted I want more. “I call upon the Congress to now complete its work of hope for millions of Americans” by passing other measures so that “we can move forward with our programs of social justice and progress.”

"This Is What LBJ Did When He Heard that MLK Had Been Killed" -
https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/168624

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A woman dressed similar to the women down below tells the audience about the byproducts of the nations exclamation following Dr. Kings death.