Highlights From The Turbulent 1960s Civil Rights Movement

The Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.

In March 1968 Martin Luther King Jr. was invited to a rights rally in Memphis, Tennessee. The rally was held in support of two workers who had been killed while working as sanitation workers in the city. Dr. King delivered a sermon “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” which laid out a vision for the future of American society.

That evening he was shot and killed at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis by James Earl Ray. Ray was already a fugitive from the law and before he could be arrested for the shooting, he fled to the United Kingdom. He was deported from the U.K. and sentenced to 99 years in prison for the assassination.