On March 29, 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. went to Memphis Tennessee. He was going to support the black sanitary public works employees. They had been on strike since March 12 for better treatment and higher wages.
On April 3, Martin spoke to a rally and said his “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speech. His plane to Memphis was delayed because of a bomb threat to his plane. Martin was in room 306 in Memphis. At 6:01 p.m. on April 4, 1968 King was shot while standing out on the second floor balcony. He was shot in his right cheek. The bullet shattered his jaw and traveled down his spinal cord then hit his shoulder. Jesse Jackson, who was president at the time, said that Martin’s last words were to a musician, Ben Branch. He was to be playing at the event King was attending.Martin went under emergency surgery, but was pronounced dead at 7:05p.m. The autopsy showed that even though Martin was 30 his heart was of a 60 year old.
Because of the assassination, throughout the country there were riots in over 100 cities. Lyndon B. Johnson said that April 7 was a national day of mourning for Martin. Martin said that at his funeral he wanted no mention of his honors and awards. He wanted to be know that he tried to “feed the hungry”, “clothe the naked”, “be right on the Vietnam war question”, and “love and serve humanity”.Two months after Martin’s death they found James Earl Ray. He admitted to assassinating Martin. He was sentenced to a 99-year prison term.
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