The Lorraine Hotel is now part of the National Civil Rights Museum and is where Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated by James Earl Ray on April 4, 1968. The Lorraine closed as a motel in 1988 when sheriff's deputies forcibly evicted the last holdout tenant, Jacqueline Smith, in preparation for an $8.8 million overhaul. The museum was officially opened to the public in 1991. Smith has maintained a vigil in protest across the street for up to 21 hours a day for 20 years, regardless of weather.
