Memphis Travel Guide: Beale Street, Civil Rights History & Egyptian Connections

People have a lot of opinions when you bring up Memphis, Tennessee. Usually a note about its crime, since it does have one of the country’s highest violent crime rates. But usually those people have never been to Memphis.

I’m of the strong belief that cities/landscapes/places have their own distinct energies, and you either vibe with them or you don’t. Sometimes you don’t love a city, sometimes the city doesn’t love you (looking at you New Orleans), and sometimes you fall in love with a place, or a place tells you how much you belong there (hey, Avebury). Like any relationship, it’s a complex dance, and to me, one of the most satisfying things about travelling to new places.

I loved Memphis, and Memphis loved me back.

Memphis felt different than any other Southern city I’ve been to. You could immediately feel the sense of struggle and fight for justice that went on here, not that many years ago. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated at the Lorraine Motel here in 1968. Today the motel and the room where he was killed is part of the National Civil Rights Museum, one of the best museums I’ve experienced walking through not only the national struggle for civil rights and social justice, but also how it impacted the city of Memphis itself.

Beale Street, which runs east from the Mississippi River, has also been central to the city’s history, as a long-running home to Black musicians, and the official “Home of the Blues” (Congress made it official in 1977). The street was also home to Ida B. Wells’ anti-segregationist newspaper, The Memphis Free Speech.

So much of the history of this country seemed to be held here in this city, and something too about the promise that’s still possible to fight for a more just world in the all the ways that we are gifted to do so, though action, song, words, and art. There’s an energy here that all this is still possible. Possibility thrives in places like this.

Mystical Memphis

I really shouldn’t be surprised that I liked Memphis. It’s named after the ancient capital city of Egypt after all, and I have always thoroughly been an Egyptian mythology girlie. Not only that, but my favorite goddess, the lioness-headed Sekhmet, has always been closely associated with Memphis.

That connection persists halfway across the world in Tennessee. I made an afternoon trip to the Memphis Zoo (a lovely one!), and lo and behold, Sekhmet was there to greet me (She always finds me in the most unusual places — much fodder for a future post.)

Memphis, Tennessee also hilariously has its own pyramid. Originally built as a stadium in 1991, the building is now a giant Bass Pro Shop, complete with indoor swamp (but blissfully fewer bugs).

Where to Stay in Memphis

I was in Memphis for a travel writing conference, but I never really like to stay at the conference hotel, preferring a little distance and down time when I can fit it in. I had been wanting to check out the ARRIVE brand of hotels (the millennial-esque branding works on me everytime), and ARRIVE Memphis looked super fun and was in the upcoming S. Main part of town.

The rooms were funky and cool, with a staff to match. But the Hustle & Dough bakery located in the downstairs lobby sealed the deal. The lounge/lobby area was full of color, comfortable seats, and chic wallpaper and art books. The pastries were soft, flavorful, and unique. Even the plain toasted sourdough was some of the best I’ve ever had.

At night, the Bar Hustle opens with pizza and cocktails — many of which I enjoyed on under the outdoor awning, a perfect spot for people watching.

The hotel is also right across the street from the National Civil Rights Museum, and well located so I could easily walk or take a scooter north on Main.

If you want a more old-school, historic stay, The Peabody Memphis is so much fun too. Best known for its duck march (which I wrote about for BBC in one of my first articles for them), the hotel does a daily escort of its mallard ducks down a red carpet from the elevator to its lobby fountain at 11am, and marches them back at 5pm every night.

If you miss them, don’t worry, you can sneak a peak of the rooftop Duck Palace during off-hours. The afternoon tea is lovely here as well, if you’re feeling fancy.

Memphis has so much magic going for it, and it’s a place I’ll return to — if only for that perfect piece of bread.

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