E-mail a friendBeverly Robertson
airdate March 31, 2008
Since '97, Beverly Robertson has been president of the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, TN—one of the venues for activities planned commemorating the 40th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King's death. Robertson is also a principal at Trust Marketing and Communications Consortium. She previously spent 19 years with Holiday Inn Worldwide, in posts that included marketing communications director, and has been featured in numerous publications, including Essence, The New York Times and Black Enterprise.
National Civil Rights Museum president tells the story of the museum and the Lorraine Motel. Full interview. (9:04)
Beverly Robertson
Tavis: Beverly Robertson is the president of the National Civil Rights Museum here in Memphis and a principal of Trust Marketing and Communications. She's overseen this terrific landmark to the civil rights era since 1997. Beverly Robertson, nice to have you on the program.
Beverly Robertson: Thank you so much, Tavis, glad to have you here.
Tavis: I'm delighted to be here. As you know, whenever I come to Memphis I call you.
Robertson: Absolutely.
Tavis: And say "Beverly, I've got to come by and pay homage to Dr. King," and you always open the door and let me in.
Robertson: No doubt.
Tavis: Every time I come - we were just discussing this - every time I come, I get moved all over again like it was the first time, and every time I come I learn something. From people who come to this site regularly or routinely over the years, you hear the same sorts of things?
Robertson: I do hear the same sorts of things. We had about 200,000 visitors that came to the site last year. Of that, probably about 20 percent are repeat visitors. And every time they come, no matter how many times they've come, they take something away that is different, something that is unique. There's about 40,000 square feet of space here at the museum and about 18 galleries that exist here at the museum that chronicles everything from the slaves' arrival on the shores of America in the 1600s, and this building up to the death of Dr. King.
And many people don't know this is the historic Lorraine Motel building that now houses the National Civil Rights Museum.
Tavis: Explain that for those who've not been here. So the balcony on which we see Dr. King assassinated 40 years ago, that is, of course, on the balcony of the Lorraine. The museum has been built around that, connected to it? Explain how that works for those - give us a visual for those who haven't been here.
Robertson: Okay. For those who haven't been here, when you approach the courtyard of the National Civil Rights Museum, you look up and you see the balcony. You are vicariously transported back to 1968. You see period cars on the lot, you move inside the door, and we have a replica of what this space looked like as the Lorraine Motel.
We start the experience with 1619, so we have actually encompassed within the Lorraine Motel the National Civil Rights Museum. This motel was originally run by an African American couple, the Baileys. The wife's name was Lorraine; thus, the Lorraine Motel. And when Dr. King came and got shot on the balcony she ran into the courtyard.
When she learned that Dr. King had been felled by the assassin's bullet, she collapsed and died three days later. But in all the confusion around Dr. King's death, that was really not even a part of any of the news stories that took place, so it sent this motel into precipitous decline, from which it never recovered. Later, two guys of great vision decided to turn this tragic site into one of an educational triumph, proceeded to raise money. We broke ground in 1987, opened as the National Civil Rights Museum in 1991.
Tavis: And how intact - I know the answer to this question because I've been here a thousand times, but for those who have not been here, again, how intact is the room in which Dr. King stayed the night he was assassinated?
Robertson: We have kept the room intact, totally. We have pictures of that room. We have even preserved the remains of the food that he was eating at the time. We have old chenille bedspreads that my grandmamma used to have on the bed. They exist on the beds that are in room 306. We also have the original balcony, the railing is still there.
There now sits a wreath in front of room 306 that marks the place that Dr. King was shouting down into the courtyard, talking to Jesse Jackson and Ben Branch right before that assassin's bullet was fired. And in fact, there is a space on that balcony where there's a cut-out piece of concrete because Dr. King lost so much blood it couldn't be cleaned so it had to be replaced.
So this is the real thing, this is authentic. This is what makes this museum different from any other historic museum in the country, because it is the site were something terribly tragic has happened but we've taken this tragedy and really made it something that all Americans - Black, White, Asians, Hispanics - can all be proud of.
Tavis: So you all do this work every day of the week throughout the year. This year, of course, a lot of focus and interest because of the 40th anniversary and all these news people like Tavis Smiley coming down here to focus attention on this. How does that challenge the museum? What activities do you have around that? Talk to me about what's happening in this 40th anniversary year.
Robertson: Well, we have a number of activities going on throughout the Memphis community. I know that Bishop Blake has a series of activities going on at Mason Temple, and you know Dr. King did his last speech there. Other organizations have things. But what we're planning are three signature events. One on April 2nd is the premiere of the screening of a mini-documentary entitled "The Witness," through the eyes of the last living witness that was on the balcony.
Now there are three living witnesses to the assassination. Rev. Samuel Billy Kyles, whose house Dr. King was going to when he got killed, Jesse Jackson, and Andrew Young. Those are the three last living witnesses, but Rev. Kyles was the only one that was on the balcony at the time. Others ran up to the balcony and you see the famous shot of them pointing across the street.
But we're going to have a screening of that mini-documentary which will later be premiered in L.A.
Then on the next night, April 3rd, we have something called "In Remembrance There Is Life," and this is bringing together those icons of the movement who walked, talked, lived and worked with Dr. King; folks like C. T. Vivian, Wyatt T. Walker, Dorothy Cotton. Folks who were his friends in the SCLC, helped him co-found it and move it forward.
Then we have Clarence Jones and then we have Myrlie Evers, who is the wife of slain civil rights activist. Clarence facilitated the letter from the Birmingham jail and was an awesome speech writer for Dr. King, did some original drafts. I wondered who wrote some of those speeches. King wrote many of them, but he would do a first draft of them.
Then we have Rev. Kyles, who is a part of the final days, and Rev. Jesse Jackson's going to join us, along with Dr. Benjamin Hooks.
And then of course there is the legacy. We need to hear young voices. The reason those folks fought, struggled, bled and died is so folks like you and others like me have the opportunities to do the kinds of jobs that we do today.
Tavis: I want to ask about your job in just a second, but since you set me up so nicely for a programming note here it goes. She mentioned a bunch of names that'll be on this program this week. On Thursday night, Rev. Kyles, whose home Dr. King was on his way to for dinner. Rev. Kyles, on this program Thursday night along with Dorothy Cotton, who she also mentioned, one of Dr. King's long-time supporters and associates at SCLC, Dorothy Cotton on this program Thursday night as well. So I want to make sure you catch them on this program this week.
And I should also mention, Thursday morning, for those in the Memphis area, speaking of Mason Temple, that's the place, of course, where Dr. King did that mountain top speech. On Thursday morning of this week we will be there for a live radio broadcast from 9:00 till 11:00, open to the public. I wish I could squeeze all y'all in here; I can't. But Thursday morning, if you're in Memphis, 9:00 to 11:00 a.m., we will do a live radio broadcast for two hours from the Mason Temple on the same day, April 3rd, when Dr. King gave that speech 40 years ago.
Now, back to you and your work here at the museum. What's it feel like for a girl who grew up in this town, born and raised here, to run this establishment?
Robertson: I have to tell you, when people approached me '97 and asked me about leading this museum, I literally laughed at them because I told them I love to visit museums; I don't know how to run them. But when they convinced me that they needed a person with a business head, and I had spent 19 years in corporate America, had run my own business for a period of time, they said that that is exactly what they needed.
And I have to tell you, it is more a mission and a passion than it is a job. And when your job becomes your passion, you do whatever that job requires. So it's an honor, I am humbled by that. The power of those people who made those sacrifices, I can never repay them. But what I do here in some way communicates to others the importance of the work that they did and the sacrifices they made.
Tavis: Tell me in 15 seconds right quick how the city is dealing with this stain on its reputation 40 years later.
Robertson: Well, I think one thing that has turned that around has been the work that we are doing here. We want the world to come here. We want people to visit this museum. We'd love for them to donate, become members. And I think if you do that and the educational programming that we provide speaks volumes for now what Memphis is ready to do or is able to do for this whole nation.
Tavis: Okay. I mentioned Rev. Kyles; he's on the program tomorrow night. Rev. Kyles is on tomorrow night, and I should also mention Clarence Jones, Dr. King's attorney, who she spoke of on this program, this week as well. The bottom line is just tune in every night. We're here all week here in Memphis, and you'll see all these icons on this program throughout the week. Harry Belafonte on Wednesday night. Anyway, Beverly Robertson, good to see you.
Robertson: Thank you, Tavis.
Tavis: I'm glad to have you here.
Robertson: And keep up the good work, you're doing a super job.
Tavis: Well, you do the same thing, thank you.
Robertson: Thank you.
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