Photo courtesy of blueline.ca

MIAMI – The fire at a historic Memphis, Tennessee Black church which hosted Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during the 1960s sanitation workers’ strike, was set intentionally.

The Memphis Fire Department told the Associated Press the April 2025 fire at Clayborn Temple Baptist Church was the work of an arsonist.

At the time of the fire the church was undergoing renovations and flames destroyed most of the interior of the church.

The investigation continues which discovered no malfunctioning equipment inside the church caused the fire.

Investigators couldn’t determine if the fire was racially motivated.