Free
In 1967, Martin Luther King was busy planning a new march on Washington. Called the Poor People’s Campaign, it would bring thousands of blacks and whites to the capital to demand jobs and fair pay.
He had traveled to Chicago to try to end segregation in the schools and unfair housing practices there. He had also begun to actively oppose the war in Vietnam. But his work on the Poor People’s Campaign was interrupted when garbage workers in Memphis, Tennessee, went on strike. They needed someone well known to take on their cause, and an old friend of King’s asked him to be that person. In March of 1968, King led 6,000 people in a march through Memphis. Some young blacks started to throw rocks and break windows. Then looting began. King was rushed to safety. But he knew he had to return to Memphis and finish the job.
“If you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice; say that I was a drum major for peace; I was a drum major for righteousness.”
◀ On April 3, 1968, King was in Memphis, where he delivered one of his best speeches to a crowd of 2,000 people. He said, “Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. But I’m not concerned about that now.” He went on, “I’ve been to the mountaintop. I’ve seen the Promised Land. And 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. And I’m happy tonight. I’m not worried about anything. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.”
▲ On April 4, King worked with his aides at the Lorraine Motel. Late that day, he got dressed for dinner, then stepped out onto the balcony and spoke with the people in the parking lot below. Suddenly a shot rang out, and King slumped to the ground. His friend Ralph Abernathy rushed to his side to comfort him. An ambulance took King to St. Joseph’s Hospital, where he was declared dead at 7:05 p.m. He was 39 years old.
▲ In Ebenezer Church, Ralph Abernathy played a recording of a famous speech King had delivered. In it, King said what he would like mentioned at his funeral: “I don’t want a long funeral. And if you get someone to deliver the eulogy, tell them not to talk too long…. Tell them not to mention that I have a Nobel Peace Prize, that isn’t important…. I’d like somebody to say that day that Martin Luther King Jr. tried to love somebody… that I did try to feed the hungry… to clothe those who were naked… that I tried to love and serve humanity.”
▲ King’s assassin was an escaped convict, James Earl Ray. He was found in London, sent back to Memphis, and tried for murder. He was found guilty and sentenced to 99 years. Ray escaped from jail in 1977 but was found just a few days later. He returned to prison, where he died on April 23, 1998.
Think Piece!
Martin Luther King Jr. tried to end racism through desegregation. He also tried to end racism by making sure blacks had the right to vote. What do you think is needed to end racism today?
▲ King’s coffin was put on a wagon, and two mules pulled it across Atlanta to Morehouse College, where he was buried. Fifty thousand mourners marched behind it. The mules and the wagon were a symbol of King’s Poor People’s Campaign. So were the work clothes that many of King’s aides wore.
◀ Today, you can go and see this 30-foot-tall stone sculpture at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington, D.C. The Stone of Hope honors Martin Luther King Jr. Its name comes from a line in his “I Have a Dream” speech. King said, “With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope.”
