Martin Luther King Jr. Assassination
Martin Luther King was assassinated on April 4, 1968, in the city of Memphis, Tennessee. He was shot by James Earl Ray while he was standing on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee while he was on his tour of the city. He was only 39 when he died.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was at that time turning his attention to a nationwide campaign to help the poor and it was to meet people and deliver some speeches that he went to Memphis. Martin Luther had previously visited the city in March 1968 to support the black sanitary public work employees who were at that time represented by AFSCME Local 1733. All the workers were on strike since March 12 demanding higher wages and better treatment from their employees and to end the discrimination against them.
King was firm in his resolution that non-violence must remain the focal point of the civil rights movement and that every American would some day achieve equal justice and rights. He was shot while he was standing on the 2nd floor balcony of the Lorraine Hotel at 6:01 p.m., a hotel owned by a black at the time. The bullet entered through his right cheek, smashed his jaw and then traveled down his spinal cord before lodging in his shoulder. Even though he was taken to the St. Joseph's Hospital in Memphis, yet he could not survive and was pronounced dead at 7:05 p.m. His assassination led to countrywide riots and strikes in more than 60 cities.
According to a biographer Taylor Branch, the autopsy of king’s heart revealed that although he was only 39 years old at the time of his assassination, yet he had the heart of a 60 year old man. This clearly points to that fact that 13 years fighting for the civil rights against racial discrimination had their toll over him and affected his heart.
Also, Taylor Branch mentions that King’s last words, after he was shot on the balcony, were addressed to the Ben Branch, a musician and an activist who was going to perform that night at an event King was attending. He told Ben, “Make sure you play Take My Hand, Precious Lord in the meeting tonight. Play it real pretty. Five days after his assassination, President Lyndon B. Johnson declared a national day of mourning in respect to Martin Luther King. His funeral was attended by a crowd of 30,000 people and the vice-president Hubert Humphrey also came on the behalf of Lyndon B. Johnson.The place where he was shot, the Lorraine Motel in Memphis has now been converted into the National Civil Rights Museum.
