The assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., the most prominent leader of the American civil rights movement, happened on April 4, 1968, as he stood on the second floor balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. He had come to Memphis to lead a march by striking sanitation workers. In response to King’s death, more than 100 American inner cities exploded in rioting, looting, and violence. James Earl Ray, a career small-time criminal who became the object of a more than two-month manhunt before he was captured in England, pled guilty to the shooting.The Rev. Samuel Billy Kyles, former pastor of Monumental Baptist Church, was on the balcony with Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1968, and tells of those final moments, the aftermath, and the meaning that people drew from the tragic event. He recalled finally hearing about the fate of King, “We never used the word ‘death’ […] They never said ‘he died’ […] We say, ‘we lost him, we lost him.'”
A Firsthand Account of The Assassination of Dr. King: