At 6:05 P.M in Memphis, Tennessee the leader of the Civil Rights Movement, Martin Luther King Jr. was shot and killed. Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK) took a fatal wound to the neck from shotgun fire. He was standing on a balcony at the Lorraine Motel when shot. MLK was rushed to St. Joseph’s hospital and then announced dead at 7:05 PM. Black communities mourned the loss of their leader. This great man, president of the Civil Rights movement, and baptist minister was lost forever.
On June 8th, 1968 James Earl Ray was found and named the killer of Martin Luther King Jr. James Earl Ray was an escaped convict and a white supremacist. He had planned to kill MLK earlier in his life (sounds familiar). Ray pleaded guilty but later said he was innocent claiming it was a set up and he was the “fall man.” Ray was sentenced to 99 years in prison after the jury reached an agreement on March 10, 1969. He later died in Nashville,Tennessee on April 23, 1998 after serving 29 years in prison.
King’s death was not all sad and peaceful; uprisings swept over the USA following the death of MLK. Buildings were destroyed many people's lives were in danger. Riots erupted in seven different cities across the USA. These cities included major cities like Chicago, Washington D.C, and Detroit. Many people considered the riots as the worst social unrest since the Civil War. President Johnson dispatched 13,600 federal troops and 1,750 federalized D.C National Guard troops. After all of this protection at one point the riots in D.C reached within two blocks from the White House. When all the riots stopped, the damages reached 27 million dollars.
After all the riots, many people started to think that King’s death was the end of the Civil Rights push. King’s death was hard to swallow for the Civil Rights movement, but certainly not the end. Jesse Jackson in the following years took control of the Civil Rights movement. Also, soon after MLK’s death President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1968 which prohibited discrimination in sale, rental, and financing of houses. The US was slowly coming together, and forming as one, thanks to MLK’s mark on us.
Like many other assassinations, conspiracy theories emerge. Some far fetched and ridiculous, but some sound very believable and deserve a second look. While James Earl Ray was said to be guilty by the jury, many people believed differently. There are theories of the government being involved in the killing along with mafia, the near by bar tender, and the local police. Many people believed James Earl Ray was framed and not the actual killer, even the King Family believed this! While some believed James Earl Ray is innocent, he pleaded guilty in court and argued his innocence after he was in prison.
In 2013 a high school in Georgia underwent their first non segregated prom. In past years there had been two different proms one for the black kids and one for the whites. One girl even said “I feel like we are living Martin Luther King’s dream”. This example shows that MLK had a big impact on the evolution of non-segregating ,and how he is still referenced to today in many situations involving racism and segregation.