Thousands honour King at National Civil Rights Museum

Thousands of people have celebrated Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday with song and dance at the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee. (Photo By Nobel Foundation – http://nobelprize.org/, Public Domain)

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Thousands of people have celebrated Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday with song and dance at the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee.

The holiday weekend was a special father and son trip for Alan Williams and 14-year-old Alan Louis Williams. The pair from Tallahassee, Florida, visited important sites in King’s life, including the Mason Temple in Memphis where he said “I’ve been to the mountaintop.”

The Commercial Appeal reports they were among visitors Monday to the civil rights museum.

Shamika Stinson came from Holly Springs, Mississippi, with her twin 10-year-old daughters, Ashley and Alyssa, who were clad in bright yellow and purple for a performance in the Watoto African dance troupe. Stinson says it was great to see different cultures coming together.

King was assassinated in 1968 at the Lorraine Motel, which is now part of the civil rights museum.