Texas History Headlines - 1968 - Martin Luther King Jr Assassinated in Memphis

M L King Killed
MEMPHIS TN (1968) On this date in 1968, Civil Rights leader, Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot by a sniper while standing on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in downtown Memphis Tennessee. King dies an hour later. The sniper turned out to be James Earl Ray.
   Rev King was invited to Memphis by Rev James Lawson, in support of striking santation workers who had launched a campaign for union representation after two workers were accidentally killed on the job. Just the day before his assassination, King spoke to supporter at Lawson's church, delivering his famed "mountaintop" sermon.
   In the days and weeks that followed, riots broke out in more than 60 American cities, resulting in the deaths of 39 people in a summer of unrest across the United States. Two months later, on June 5th, Presidential hopeful Bobby Kennedy was shot after a speech in California.
   Racial tensions and anti-way activism came to a head at the Democratic National Convention in late August, famed for the police resonse to protestors. Hubert Humprey was the eventually nominee even though he did not win one single state primary.
   Today the Lorraine Motel in Memphis is the home of the National Civil Rights Museum. Although hatred has not been eliminated from all corners of society, institutionalized descrimination in hiring, housing, public facilities, education, and health is now the law thanks to the efforts of Martin Luther King, Jr and others who have successfully led the way to a non-violent reordering of our national conscience.