“One of the last pictures of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.,”
at a mass rally in Memphis, April 3, 1968.
Photo credit: Bettmann / Getty


– Editor’s Note:
On April 3, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his now infamous and stirring “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speech at the world headquarters of the Church of God in Christ, the Mason Temple, in Memphis. King’s arrival had been delayed in Atlanta by a bomb threat to his American Airlines flight, implied after his Memphis arrival in the prophetic last speech of his life by saying the following:

Well, I don’t know what will happen now. We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it 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. So I’m happy, tonight. I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.
Click here for the video.


King was fatally shot the next day at 6:01 p.m. Central Time, Thursday, April 4, 1968, and died at St. Joseph’s Hospital at 7:05 p.m.

I was in 8th Grade living in Louisville, Ky. and being an hour ahead in Eastern Time, I had completed my homework and joined the family watching NBC’s popular Ironside T-V series, when this tragic news was broadcast by Chet Huntley of NBC News.
Click here for that chilling video, scroll down to “The 11th Hour with Brian Williams 4/4/18”
“Remembering MLK 50 years after his tragic assassination”
“It was 50 years ago on April 4, 1968, America learned that Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., had been assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee.”

Click here for the interrupting CBS News Special Report by Dan Rather, followed by Walter Cronkite’s King Assassination Report on the CBS Evening News April 5.

That was the beginning of what I call the Year of Rage in America – 1968!
And King became one of my heroes.


– “MLK 50”
“Stories and videos around “Hope & Fury: MLK, The Movement and The Media,” an NBC News documentary commemorating the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.,” by NBC News.
Click here


– “MLK & RFK: 50 Years Later”
“Martin Luther King III and Kerry Kennedy join Rev. Al Sharpton to discuss the power of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s movement and how it’s still impacting our world 50 years later, and how Robert F. Kennedy played a major role in this movement as well,” by NBC News.
Click here


– “Witness at Memphis motel where Martin Luther King was shot recounts ‘shock’ for first time”
“On April 4, 1968, Mary Ellen Ford was a witness to the aftermath of the shooting at the Lorraine Motel that claimed King’s life — and changed history,” by Erik Ortiz, NBC News.
Click here


– “Martin Luther King Jr. 50th anniversary: Rev. Jesse Jackson honors him in speech”
“Rev. Jesse Jackson honored Martin Luther King Jr. in a speech on the 50th anniversary of his assassination. He recalled the events of the day he was killed, while standing in the spot where King was shot,” by NBC News.
Click here for this moving video.


– “Who killed Martin Luther King Jr.? His family believes James Earl Ray was framed.”
By Tom Jackman, The Washington Post.
Click here

Editor’s Note:
I have read every book I could get my hands on about the assassination of MLK, Jr., and I agree with the King Family that accused murderer James Earl Ray was framed. Click here for Ray’s own book, a must-read.