Assassination of Martin Luther King

Martin Luther King was assassinated on April 4,1968. He was in Memphis Tennessee supporting a strike by black garbage men. A white drifter and escaped convict by the name of James Earl Ray pleaded guilty in March of 1969 and was sentenced to 99 years in prison. People everywhere mourned his death. King was buried in Southview cemetery in Atlanta, but was later moved to Ebenezer Baptist Church. Inscribed on Martin Luther King's tombstone is: "Free at last,free at last , thank God almighty, I'm free at last!"

Cyber-Visitors' Memories of this Event:

Jane Leingang
Newspaper in Education Coordinator
Evansville Courier Company

The time of the Martin Luther King assassination was terrible. I remember people going to church to pray. The radio station in St. Louis played "The Sun Died" by Ray Charles all day. I remember the cover of Life magazine with Coretta Scott King on the cover with tears streaming down her face. It is hard to recapture how we felt because his memory has been altered by what we know about his character now that we did not know then.

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