Actor Samuel L. Jackson painted the railings on the motel balcony where civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. was killed in 1968 on Tuesday .

The Pulp Fiction star helped clean up the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee ahead of the 40th anniversary of King’s murder next week. The civil rights icon was shot dead there by James Earl Ray on April 4, 1968.

Jackson, 59, said, "Being a Tennessean, being part of the civil rights movement, growing up through it, being in it, of it, around it, knowing the significance of preserving our history and having a place people can come to and an emotionally connection is very important."

Bosses at the National Civil Rights Museum are expecting an influx of visitors to mark the anniversary of King’s death next week.