Martin Luther King's Assassination
Where & When?
Martin Luther King Jr. was assinated on April 4, 1968 at 6:01pm. He was standing in front of room 306 at te Lorraine Hotel in Memphis Tennessee. The death was caused by a rifle, which wounded his mouth and jaw.
Why?
Martin was in Memphis to help the sanitation workers who were on strike. They were on strike because on January 31, 1968. 22 workers were sent home with out pay. The white workers were allowed to keep working , stay on the job , and receive pay. The City of Memphis was asked to try and work the problem out. They refused. Martin Luther King Jr. was asked to help. He always tried to help the oppressed.
What happened before?
On March 18, Martin and other civil rights leaders went to Memphis and held a rally. He came back on April 3.
The amazing thing about this , is on April 3, he gave his famous "I've Been to the Mountaintop " speech. This speech is huge now. But when he gave this speech, it was to a small crowd. The weather was bad, and some people decided to stay home. He talked about a lot of things in this speech. He even talked about wanting to live a long life. The part that a lot of people remember the most is the end when he talks about the "Promised Land". Dr. King said "But I want you to know tonight
that we , as a people will get to the Promised Land. And so I"m happy tonight , I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory and the coming of the Lord." Some people who witnessed this speech felt that he was speaking of his own death. Some people felt that he was saying that if I die, you will go on as a people.
Who was charged?
The next day, Martin Luther King Jr. was killed. Hopefully, he is at peace, and the dream he died for will never die. James Earl Ray was charged and spent the rest of his life in prison. There were a lot of people who believed that Ray did not kill Dr. King. Even the King children thought Ray was not guilty of this murder. They even met with James Earl Ray. To this day , people are confused when asked "who do you think killed Dr. King". Some people even accuse the FBI who investigated the case. People may doubt who killed Martin Luther King Junior, but no one doubt that he was truly a great man . Today the Lorraine Hotel is the "National Civil Rights Museum."
Bibliography
Rogers, Kimberlin, and Melanie Elam. "Martin Luther King Jr." Wikipedia. 21 Feb. 2008. 21 Feb. 2008 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King>.
http://www.princeton.edu/pr/mlk/
file:///Users/student/Desktop/www.nytimes.com:.webloc
file:///Users/student/Desktop/www.mugshots.com:.webloc
file:///Users/student/Desktop/www.nytimes.com:.webloc
The Confederate Battle flag is racist and descriminating and that the flag reprsents seperation instead of uniting like the american flag. The reason the flag is racist is because the KKK used the flag and the KKK were a racist group and if the flag wasn't racist than why did they use and why did the flag to scare away black people. The way the flag represents seperation is the X and it seams like the reason the flag has the big X on it was to ex the people who are different out. If you want to be a place where everyone is free and you want something that represents tht in a flag than the confederat battle flag isn't the right flag.
Comments (0)
You don't have permission to comment on this page.