Associated Press fileThe Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. stands with other civil rights leaders on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tenn., on April 3, 1968, a day before he was assassinated at approximately the same place. From left are Hosea Williams, Jesse Jackson, King, and Ralph Abernathy. The 39-year-old Nobel Laureate was the proponent of non-violence in the 1960's American civil rights movement. King is honored with a national U.S. holiday celebrated in January.
Charles Kelly, Associated Press fileThe Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his "I've Been to the Mountaintop" speech at the Mason Temple in Memphis, Tenn., on April 3, 1968, one day before his assassination.
Keystone, Getty Images9th April 1968: Thousands of people lining the streets of Atlanta, Georgia, for the funeral of Civil Rights leader Dr Martin Luther King Jr. who was assassinated by James Earl Ray.
Associated Press fileCivil rights leader Rev. Ralph Abernathy is shown after he concluded a short memorial service for the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in Memphis, Tenn., April 5, 1968. Abernathy assumed the duties of the president of the Southern Christian Leadership after King was assassinated.
Associated Press fileCoretta Scott King, center, widow of slain civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., is comforted in the doorway of an airliner in Memphis, Tenn., April 5, 1968, as her husband's body is brought up the ramp. The civil rights leader was standing on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel when he was killed by a rifle bullet on April 4, 1968. James Earl Ray pleaded guilty to the killing and was sentenced to 99 years in prison. He died in prison in 1998.
Bill Hudson, Associated Press fileFamily members and friends of slain civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., follow his casket into an Atlanta funeral home after the body arrived from Memphis, in this April 5, 1968 file photo. From left are, King's brother, the Rev. A.D. Williams King; King's close associate Dr. Ralph Abernathy; KIng's widow, Coretta Scott King; and her two sons, Martin Luther III, and Dexter. When Coretta Scott King's husband died in 1968, then- Georgia Gov. Lester Maddox refused to let Martin Luther King Jr. lie in honor at the state Capitol and was outraged to see state flags waving at half-staff in tribute.
Associated Press fileSmouldering ruins remain where a building stood on 7th Street, N.W. in Washington, D.C., April 6, 1968. Numerous fires accompanied the second night of turmoil in the nation's capital following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in Memphis, Tenn., April 4.
Associated Press fileThis aerial photo shows fire-gutted buildings, some still smouldering, along a block on H Street between 12th and 13th Streets in the northeast section of Washington, D.C. on April 5, 1968. Rioting broke out after the assassination of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in Memphis, Tenn. on April 4.
Charles Harrity, The Associated PressGlass and mannequins litter sidewalk at this clothing store in Northwest Washington, April 4, 1968 after crowds in the predominantly black neighborhood broke into and looted some stores. Crowds gathered following news that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had been slain.
Associated Press fileFloral pieces line the rail outside the room that Dr. Martin Luther King occupied in a motel in Memphis, Tennessee, April 7, 1968. It was outside this room while leaning on the rail that Dr. King was struck and killed by a sniper's bullet on Thursday. An unidentified staff member looks out over the flowers and the direction of the shot.
AFP/Getty Images fileCoretta Scott King (5th-R) leads a "March on Memphis" April 9, 1968, five days after the assassination of her husband, US clergyman and civil rights leader Martin Luther King. On her right, her daughter, Yolanda, walks with her sons Martin and Dexter; on her left appear King's successor, the Rev. Ralph Abernathy, and Andrew Young, later US President Jimmy Carter's ambassador to the United Nations and mayor of Atlanta. Martin Luther King was assassinated April 4, 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee. James Earl Ray confessed to shooting King and was sentenced to 99 years in prison. King's killing, three years after the assassination of black civil rights leader Malcolm X and months before Sen. Robert Kennedy's, sent shock waves through American society.
Associated Press fileJames Earl Ray lowers his head as State Safety Commissioner Greg O'Rear, white hat, and Highway Patrol Maj. Mickey McGuire, dark glasses, lead him to prison in Nashville, Tenn., March 11, 1969.
Joseph Louw, Time & Life Pictures/Getty ImagesCivil rights leader Andrew Young (L) and others standing on balcony of Lorraine motel pointing in direction of assailant after assassination of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who is lying at their feet on April 4, 1968.
Gene Herrick, The Associated PressThe Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. is welcomed with a kiss by his wife Coretta after leaving court in Montgomery, Ala., March 22, 1956. King was found guilty of conspiracy to boycott city buses in a campaign to desegregate the bus system, but a judge suspended his $500 fine pending appeal.
AFP/Getty Images fileDr. Benjamin Spock (2nd-L), child-care expert, Martin Luther King (C), clergyman and black civil rights campaigner, Father Frederick Reed and Cleveland Robinson, unionist leader, lead 16 March 1967 in New York a huge pacifist rally protesting United States involvement in the Vietnam war.
Associated Press fileHeavyweight champion Muhammad Ali, left center, talks to the media in Louisville, Ky., after conferring with civil rights activist Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., right center, regarding the boxer's draft status in this March 29, 1967 file photo. Ali was in his hometown for his court suit to prevent his Army induction April 28 in Houston. Later, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund represented Ali when the high court struck down his conviction for refusing to serve in the military.
Associated Press fileMartin Luther King, Jr. and his civil rights marchers head for Montgomery, the state's capitol, in this March 21, 1965 file photo.
Associated Press fileIn this Aug. 28, 1963, black-and-white file photo Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., head of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, addresses marchers during his "I Have a Dream" speech at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington.
AFP/Getty Images fileCivil rights leader Martin Luther King (C) waves to supporters 28 Aug. 1963 on the Mall in Washington, DC, during the "March on Washington." On April 4, 2018 the US marks the 50th anniversary of the assassination of King. In 1968, King was killed by a single bullet to the head while on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in downtown Memphis, Tennessee. The mystery surrounding his assassination has swirled for years, with escaped convict James Earl Ray convicted of the murder and sentenced to 99 years in prison.
AFP/Getty Images fileMore than 200,000 people gather 28 Aug. 1963 on the Mall in Washington DC, Washington Monument in background) during the "March on Washington". The civil rights leader Martin Luther King said the march was "the greatest demonstration of freedom in the history of the United States." Martin Luther King was assassinated on 04 April 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee. James Earl Ray confessed to shooting King and was sentenced to 99 years in prison. King's killing sent shock waves through American society at the time, and is still regarded as a landmark event in US history.
Associated Press filePresident Lyndon B. Johnson talks with civil rights leaders in his White House office in this Jan. 18,1964 file photo. From left, are: Roy Wilkins, executve secretary National Association for the Advancement of Colored People; James Farmer, national director, Congress of Racial Equality; Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., head of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference; and Whitney Young, executive director of the Urban League.
Atlanta Journal-Constitution via APThis 1966 photo is the last official portrait taken of the entire King family, made in the study of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. From left are Dexter King, Yolanda King, Martin Luther King Jr., Bernice King, Coretta Scott King and Martin Luther King III. In 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. declared, "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."
Associated Press fileIn this Sept. 16, 1963 file photo, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gives a news conference in Birmingham, Ala. announcing he and other African American leaders have called for federal Army occupation of Birmingham in the wake of the previous day's church bombing and shootings which left six blacks dead.
Associated Press fileMartin Luther King greets a crowd in Baltimore in 1964.
Associated Press fileDr. Martin Luther King Jr., third from right and his wife, Coretta King, lead off the final lap to the state capitol at Montgomery, Ala. in this March 25, 1965 file photo. Thousands of civil rights marchers joined in the walk, which began in Selma, Ala., on March 21, demanding voter registration rights for African Americans.
Associated Press fileDemonstrators, including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., stream over an Alabama River bridge at the city limits of Selma, Ala., in this March 10, 1965 file photo, during a voter rights march.
File, The Associated PressAlabama state troopers swing nightsticks to break up the "Bloody Sunday" voting march in Selma, Ala., in this March 7, 1965, file photo. John Lewis, front right, of the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee is put on the ground by a trooper. The Southern Christian Leadership Conference is inextricably tied to some of the civil rights movement's greatest accomplishments, from the 1963 March on Washington to the "Bloody Sunday" march that led to the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Under the leadership of co-founder Martin Luther King Jr., the organization became a leading voice of a generation galvanized by sit-ins, protests and freedom rides.
The Commercial Appeal, Barney Sellers, The Associated PressSanitation workers on strike in Memphis, Tenn., resume their daily marches Friday, March 29, 1968, one day after a march led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., left Main and Beale Streets littered with bricks and broken glass and dappled with blood when about 200 youths began breaking windows and looting. The city was taking no chances on a repeat of the violence as National Guardsmen in armored personnel carriers equipped with 50-caliber machine guns escorted marchers. Within a week, King was dead, killedby an assassin's bullet at Memphis' Lorraine Motel.
Paul Schutzer, Time Life Pictures/Getty ImagesPortrait of Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. as he delivers the 'Give Us the Ballot' address as the Prayer Pilgramage for Freedom event on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, Washington DC, March 17, 1957.
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The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. stands with other civil rights leaders on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tenn., on April 3, 1968, a day before he was assassinated at approximately the same place. From left are Hosea Williams, Jesse Jackson, King, and Ralph Abernathy. The 39-year-old Nobel Laureate was the proponent of non-violence in the 1960's American civil rights movement. King is honored with a national U.S. holiday celebrated in January.
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On April 4, 1968, a movement lost its patriarch when the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was killed on a hotel balcony in Memphis.
Yolanda, Martin, Dexter and Bernice King lost their father.
King’s death changed the world and altered the lives of those who lived through it. Some would spend the rest of their lives fighting for racial equality and economic justice.



























