A view into room 306, Lorraine Motel, National Civil Rights Museum

Room 306, Lorraine Motel, National Civil Rights Museum. Memphis, Tennessee. 2014.

This is a view into room 306 of the Lorraine Motel, the room Dr. Martin Luther King occupied before he stepped out onto the balcony and was assassinated on April 4th, 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee. The motel is now part of the National Civil Rights Museum.

The woman and window you see are not actually inside room 306. My view into the room was through a glass panel which allows museum visitors to see inside the room. I and other visitors were standing in the hallway. A large window stands at the end of the hallway, and the woman you see was actually looking out of the window at the end of that hallway. I was able to capture her reflection as it appeared on the glass panel that allowed me to view inside room 306.

The result appears as if the woman and large hallway window are inside Dr. King's room. There actually is a window in Dr. King's room, but the curtains are drawn closed, and it is not visible in this image because it is obscured by the reflection of the window in the hallway.

In the image below I had stepped back from the viewing panel, and you can see my friend and fellow photographer, Joseph Gamble, capturing his own image through the viewing panel into room 306.

Joseph Gamble captures an image of room 306, Lorraine Motel, National Civil Rights Museum. Memphis, Tennessee. 2014.

Joseph Gamble captures an image of room 306, Lorraine Motel, National Civil Rights Museum. Memphis, Tennessee. 2014.