Memphis Beyond Elvis: Black History Travel Guide
When most people picture Memphis, they picture Elvis. But the deeper I went into this city, the clearer one thing became: nearly every sound that made Memphis famous was created by Black musicians first. This is the birthplace of rock ‘n’ roll, the home of soul, and one of the most pivotal cities in the entire civil rights movement. The Elvis story is the one that gets sold to tourists. The bigger story, the one I came to Memphis for, is about the Black artists, organizers, and everyday people who shaped American culture and changed the country.
As a Black woman traveler, I wanted to learn about and stand inside that history. I left with a whole new appreciation for how much we created and a sobering reminder of how much was sacrificed here. If you’re planning a trip to Memphis, here’s how to experience the city through Black history, music, memory, and culture.
First, Let’s Clear A Few Things Up
What is the best place to learn about Black history in Memphis? The best places to experience Black history in Memphis are the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel, the Stax Museum of American Soul Music, Sun Studio, Beale Street, the I AM A MAN Plaza at Clayborn Temple, Mason Temple, and the Withers Collection Museum & Gallery. Together, they trace both the music and the movement, often within a few blocks of each other.
How many days do you need? You can hit the major music and civil rights sites in 2 to 3 days. Two is enough for the essentials if you’re focused. Add a third to give the museums the time they deserve, especially the Civil Rights Museum.
Is Memphis safe for travelers? I felt fine throughout my trip. As in any city, use common-sense precautions and stay aware of your surroundings. Downtown and the main attraction areas are walkable and well-trafficked.
Do I have to do the Elvis stuff? No. Graceland is a major draw and I won’t talk a true Elvis fan out of it. But if Elvis isn’t your thing, you can build a rich, full Memphis trip without it. This guide is the proof.
Where’s the best hotel for first-time visitors? I stayed at ARRIVE Memphis and absolutely loved it! You can read my full review here.
9 Epic Things to do in Memphis Beyond Elvis
Stax Museum of American Soul Music
Stax was my favorite stop in all of Memphis. Walking through Stax feels like stepping inside the family album of American soul: Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes, Booker T. & the MGs, Rufus Thomas, The Staple Singers, and so many others. The museum holds more than 2,000 artifacts, including records, costumes, performance footage, instruments, interactive exhibits, and Isaac Hayes’ unforgettable gold-plated Cadillac.
And one of the most powerful parts of the Stax story is that it was an integrated creative space in the segregated South. Black and white musicians worked together during a time when much of the city, and the country, was still violently divided by race. In a city shaped by segregation, Stax became a place where musicians could build something together that challenged the logic of Jim Crow, even if the world outside the studio was still hostile.If you only have time for one music museum in Memphis, make it the Stax Museum of American Soul Music.
Plan your visit: Give yourself around two hours. It closes at 5pm.
National Civil Rights Museum
The National Civil Rights Museum is built at the Lorraine Motel, where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968. The museum carries you from slavery through the present, and the newly reopened Legacy Experience ties that long arc directly to the justice fights still happening right now. I’d put this museum near the top of any list of the country’s most powerful museums.
Plan your visit: It deserves more than a quick walk-through, and you’ll probably need a minute afterward. I wrote a separate, full guide to what’s inside, including the new Legacy Experience.
Sun Studio
Sun Studio is one of the most famous recording studios in the country. It’s often called the birthplace of rock ’n’ roll, and it’s closely associated with Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and other artists who helped bring the sound to a wider audience.
Before rock ’n’ roll was marketed as rock ’n’ roll, Black musicians had already been shaping blues, gospel, rhythm and blues, and early rock sounds across the South. Artists like B.B. King, Howlin’ Wolf, and Ike Turner all passed through Sun Studio’s orbit, and their influence is essential to understanding why the studio was so important. Standing in that small studio space, you feel how intimate the beginnings were. This wasn’t some massive corporate machine at first. It was a room, a microphone, a few musicians, and a sound that would eventually change popular culture.
But the bigger question is: who gets remembered as the face of that sound? That’s why I think Sun Studio is worth visiting, especially if you pair it with the Stax Museum. Sun shows you one piece of the story. Stax gives you another — one that is deeply Black, deeply Southern, and impossible to separate from the civil rights era.
Plan your visit: Tours run on the half hour and the space is small, so arrive a little early. It’s an easy add-on near downtown.
Beale Street
Beale Street is the most famous street in Memphis, and long before the neon and the daiquiri bars, it was one of the most important Black commercial and cultural districts in the entire South. This is where the Memphis blues grew up, where Black-owned businesses thrived, and where musicians like B.B. King built their names. It’s a registered historic district for good reason.
Today it leans touristy, with live music pouring out of every doorway and a real party atmosphere at night. I’d still call it a Memphis rite of passage. Go in knowing the layered history underneath the souvenir shops, catch some live music, and enjoy the energy.
Plan your visit: It’s a scene at night. If you want a calmer look at the street and its history, walk it during the day too.
I didn’t make it to every one of these on my trip, but a Black history guide to Memphis wouldn’t be honest or complete without them. Most sit within the downtown core, and several are official stops on the U.S. Civil Rights Trail. If you have more time, this is how you go deeper.
I AM A MAN Plaza & Clayborn Temple
If you want to understand why Dr. King was in Memphis the day he was killed, this is where the story lives. In February 1968, after two Black sanitation workers were killed by a malfunctioning truck, around 1,300 Memphis sanitation workers went on strike against brutal conditions and poverty wages. Clayborn Temple, a Romanesque Revival church just south of Beale, became their headquarters. The signs the strikers carried, reading simply “I AM A MAN,” were printed inside the church. That phrase became one of the most enduring symbols of human dignity to emerge from the movement.
Today, the I AM A MAN Plaza sits beside the temple, with a sculpture and a wall engraved with the names of the strikers. One honest, current note: Clayborn Temple was severely damaged by an arson fire in April 2025 and is being rebuilt; reopening is not expected until the end of the decade.
Mason Temple
Mason Temple is where Dr. King delivered his “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speech on the night of April 3, 1968, the speech in which he seemed to foresee his own death. He was assassinated the next day. The building is the headquarters of the Church of God in Christ, and its large auditorium made it one of the most important gathering places for mass meetings during the movement.
The Withers Collection Museum & Gallery
This is the site I most wish I’d had time for, and the one I think most music-and-history travelers overlook. Dr. Ernest C. Withers was a Black photographer who documented both worlds this guide is about: he shot the civil rights movement, including the sanitation strike and the events around Dr. King’s assassination, and he also photographed the Beale Street musicians and the Stax-era soul scene. His archive runs into the millions of images. On Beale Street, the gallery puts the movement and the music in the same frame, through the eyes of one man who was there for all of it.
WDIA Radio Station
WDIA holds a quiet but enormous place in Black history: it became the first radio station in the United States programmed entirely by and for Black audiences. It helped launch B.B. King’s career and gave Black Memphis a voice on the airwaves at a time when that was rare anywhere in the country.
Walk the Memphis Heritage Trail
Rather than treating these as scattered pins, you can walk much of this history. The Memphis Heritage Trail threads through downtown with markers honoring the people and events that shaped Black Memphis, and many of the sites above are also official stops on the U.S. Civil Rights Trail, which links seven Memphis locations including the National Civil Rights Museum, Clayborn Temple and I AM A MAN Plaza, Mason Temple, Beale Street, WDIA, Stax, and the Withers Collection. Following the trail turns a list of stops into one connected story.
Where to Stay in Memphis
For a Black history and music trip, stay downtown in or near the South Main Arts District. It keeps you walking distance from great food and puts you close to the civil rights sites clustered in the downtown core.
I loved staying at the Arrive Memphis, a boutique hotel on South Main. It’s super centrally located and sits right across the street from the National Civil Rights Museum, which made our museum morning effortless. The rooms are modern and full of natural light, there’s an in-house bakery and a lobby bar, and being able to walk to dinner made the whole trip easier.
*Read my full Arrive Memphis hotel review
Where to Eat in Memphis
Memphis food goes so far beyond what you’d expect, and the meals were some of the best parts of the trip. A few standouts:
The Lobbyist was hands down our best meal, a Michelin-recognized spot downtown where the menu changes with the season. Every single thing we ordered was incredible. If you do one splurge dinner in Memphis, make it this one.
Bao Toan Kitchen & Bar surprised us with delicious Vietnamese food and proved Memphis’s dining scene runs much deeper than its barbecue reputation.
Central BBQ is the barbecue stop you can’t skip. The chicken nachos were really good, and the banana pudding was chef’s kiss.
Sunrise Memphis is a solid breakfast spot for homemade biscuits, and a tip for anyone who doesn’t eat pork: they’ve got turkey sausage and turkey bacon, which I appreciated. Plenty of Memphis spots have non-pork options if you ask.
My Memphis Report Card
Here’s my honest take on Memphis for Black history and music travelers. (Grades are out of 5 stars, and these are my personal opinions, so adjust to what you’re after.)
Black History & Culture (★★★★★) Few cities in America tell the story of Black music and the civil rights movement this powerfully, or this close together.
Music History (★★★★★) Stax, Sun Studio, Beale Street. If you want to understand where American music came from, this is sacred ground.
Emotional Impact (★★★★★) The Civil Rights Museum will make you cry.
Depth of Sites (★★★★★) There is far more here than the famous three museums. The more you dig, the more Memphis gives you.
Walkability (★★★½) Downtown is easy on foot, and many historical sites cluster there, but you’ll need a car or rideshare for Stax and Sun Studio.
Overall: An essential trip every history & music lover should take at least once.
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