EOTO Civil Rights Era: Martin Luther King Jr. Assassination

When we think of the Civil Rights Era, Martin Luther King Jr. naturally comes to mind. He played a pivotal role in the Civil Rights movement. King was born on January 15th, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia. He was raised in a middle-class family, where his Father and Grandfather were both Baptist preachers, and both parents were college-educated. This sparked King's interest in the Church and led him to go to Morehouse College and then to Seminary school in Chester, Pennsylvania. 

In December of 1955, following the Montgomery Bus Boycotts involving Rosa Parks refusing to give her seat up to a white passenger, people supporting the movement formed the Montgomery Improvement Association and decided that King would be their leader. This was because he was young and had a good reputation around the town, where people respected him. After that movement was successful, he went on to organize The Southern Christian Leadership Conference. With this group, he traveled around the country, giving powerful speeches on race-related issues and bringing out others to speak as well. King focused a lot on ensuring that nonviolent resistance was how this movement was fighting back against the racism occurring on a daily basis. Throughout the years, MLK gave powerful speeches such as the famous "I Have a Dream speech," and he even went to jail for a period of time while advocating for the lunch counter sit-ins. He felt strongly about his beliefs and helped to move the nation along to a desegregated society. Sadly, this positive momentum didn't last forever.

On April 4th, 1968, at exactly 6:05 pm in Memphis, Tennessee, Martin Luther King Jr was shot. He was standing on a balcony outside his room on the second floor at the Lorraine Motel. He was pronounced dead in St. Joesphs Hospital at 7:05 pm. His death caused violent outbreaks to occur across the nation, with more than forty deaths and extensive damage done. James Earl Ray was the man who was found guilty of murdering King and was ultimately sentenced to ninety-nine years in prison. The current president at the time, Lyndon B. Johnson, called for a national day of mourning following the assassination, where public museums, libraries, businesses, and schools were closed. 

A march in Memphis just a few days later was held to honor King and support sanitation workers that he had be scheduled to speak to days earlier. His funeral service was held in Atlanta where many prominent figures attended and over 100,000 mourners followed behind King's coffin. A recording of King was played at his funeral where he said, "I'd like somebody to mention that day that Martin Luther King Jr, tried to give his life serving others." King was eventually laid to rest at South-View Cemetery and later moved to Ebenezer Church. MLK is if not the most one of the most notable Civil Rights Era figures he dedicated his life to a cause he truly believed in, that unfortunately took his life too soon.