2:15am: A Sad Day In Memphis
Memphis, Tenn., April 4, 1968, 6pm: Martin Luther King Jr. is fatally shot while standing on the balcony outside his second-story room at the Motel Lorraine. The civil rights leader, in Memphis supporting a sanitation workers' strike, was on his way to dinner when a bullet severed his spinal cord. He was pronounced dead after his arrival at a Memphis hospital.
A day earlier, in his last sermon, he said: "We've got some difficult days ahead, but it really doesn't matter with me now, because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life; longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now, I just want to do God's will. And he's allowed me to go up to the mountain, and I've looked over, and I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you, but I want you to know tonight that we as a people will get to the promised land."
Martin Luther King was 39 years old.
In his keynote "I Have A Dream" speech from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial during the 1963 March On Washington for Jobs and Freedom, King said: "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."
He preached nonviolence and demonstrated for civil rights and humanity, and was the youngest Nobel Peace Prize Laureate at age 35 in 1964. His birthday, January 15, is now a national holiday celebrated on the third monday in January.
1929-1968
Civil Rights Leader
Posted by cronish at April 04, 2002 02:23 AM