martin luther king jr assassination essay

• Modern History

Why was Martin Luther King assassinated?

April 4, 1968, remains an indelible day in American history. Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a prominent figure of the American civil rights movement, was assassinated on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, at just 39 years old.

His sudden, violent death sent shockwaves around the world, shaking the foundations of a nation grappling with deep-rooted racial tension.

The incident ignited a wave of riots in major cities and solidified King's status as a martyr for the cause of civil rights.

King's assassination was not just an attack on a man, but an assault on the ideals he symbolized: racial equality, nonviolent protest, and the belief in a "Beloved Community" where all people can share in the wealth of the earth.

Despite his polarizing image, King was seen by many as the moral compass of the nation, guiding the United States toward a more just and equitable society.

Yet, we must ponder, why was this man, who fought tirelessly for peace and equality, targeted?

Why did an assassin aim his sights on a preacher advocating for nonviolence? 

How did King become a leading civil rights leader?

Martin Luther King Jr. emerged as a leader during a turbulent era in American history, marked by widespread racial discrimination and inequality.

This was a period when Jim Crow laws enforced racial segregation, and when the African American community faced systemic prejudice and violence.

It was within this crucible of racial tension that King, then a young pastor from Atlanta, Georgia, rose to prominence.

In 1955, King gained national recognition for leading the Montgomery Bus Boycott after the arrest of Rosa Parks.

This peaceful protest against segregation on public transportation lasted 381 days, resulting in a Supreme Court ruling that segregation on public buses was unconstitutional.

It was during this time that King employed the strategy of nonviolent resistance, inspired by the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi.

This approach would become the cornerstone of the civil rights movement.

King went on to co-found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in 1957, an organization that played a crucial role in the civil rights movement.

Over the following decade, he led and participated in numerous civil rights activities, including the Albany Movement, the Birmingham Campaign, and the March on Washington.

The latter event culminated in King's famous "I Have a Dream" speech, a rallying cry for racial equality that resonated across the nation and beyond.

King's leadership in the civil rights movement met fierce resistance from those who wanted to maintain the status quo.

His calls for racial integration and equality, and his criticisms of economic inequality and the Vietnam War made him a target for violent threats, numerous arrests, and FBI surveillance.

Yet, King remained steadfast in his commitment to nonviolent resistance and his vision of a racially integrated and economically just society.

By the mid-1960s, King had expanded his focus beyond civil rights to encompass broader issues of economic inequality and militarism.

His opposition to the Vietnam War and his Poor People's Campaign, which aimed to address economic injustices, further polarized public opinion and made him an even more controversial figure.

Why did some oppose King's message?

Martin Luther King Jr.'s pursuit of civil rights and equality did not go unopposed. His vision of an integrated and fair society directly challenged the prevailing norms of a country where racial segregation and discrimination were deeply entrenched in its social, political, and economic fabric.

King's nonviolent tactics and call for peaceful integration put him at odds with various factions in American society.

One of the most significant sources of opposition was the segregationist South, where white supremacy groups such as the Ku Klux Klan used intimidation, violence, and political power to enforce racial segregation.

King's activities and speeches were met with significant resistance, including death threats and acts of terrorism against him and his family.

However, the opposition was not limited to extremist groups or the South. Many white Americans, particularly those in power, saw King's activism as a direct threat to the established order.

King's push for equal voting rights, fair housing, and an end to segregation in schools was met with significant pushback from those who benefited from the status quo.

Even within the civil rights movement, King faced opposition. More radical groups, like the Black Panther Party, criticized King's commitment to nonviolence and his pursuit of integration.

They argued for Black Power and self-defense in response to racial violence, which contrasted with King's philosophy of peaceful protest and civil disobedience.

Moreover, King's opposition to the Vietnam War and his focus on economic inequality in the later years of his life further alienated him from mainstream society, including the Johnson administration, and even some of his allies.

His criticisms of U.S. foreign policy and his call for a radical redistribution of economic power were considered by many as un-American, deepening his unpopularity and fueling hostility towards him.

The dramatic events leading up to the assassination

In the years and months leading up to his assassination, Martin Luther King Jr.'s role in the fight for civil rights had started to evolve. King broadened his vision beyond the struggle for racial equality to address wider issues of economic justice and militarism.

These shifts played a crucial role in the context of his assassination, as they further heightened the opposition he faced.

In 1967, King publicly expressed his opposition to the Vietnam War, a controversial move that alienated him from the Johnson administration and significant parts of the American public.

His speech at Riverside Church in New York City, "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence," criticized U.S. foreign policy and linked the struggle for civil rights at home to the fight against militarism abroad.

This stance cost King the support of important allies, including President Lyndon B. Johnson, and brought increased scrutiny and hostility from the FBI.

King's attention to economic inequality resulted in the launch of the Poor People's Campaign in December 1967.

This movement aimed to address the fundamental issue of poverty among all races in America and called for major reforms in the distribution of wealth and income.

This initiative represented a marked shift in his activism towards broader systemic issues, which alarmed those threatened by these radical changes.

In early 1968, King traveled to Memphis, Tennessee, to support a strike by black sanitary public works employees who were fighting for better wages and working conditions.

His involvement in the Memphis sanitation workers' strike, and the planned Poor People's March on Washington that summer, signaled his continued commitment to economic justice.

On the evening of April 3, 1968, King delivered his prophetic "I've Been to the Mountaintop" speech.

In it, he seemed to foreshadow his death, expressing his readiness to die for the cause of justice and equality. "I've seen the Promised Land," he said. "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."

The fateful moment of King's death

On the evening of April 4, 1968, one of the most prominent voices of the American civil rights movement was abruptly silenced.

Martin Luther King Jr. was standing on the balcony of his second-floor room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, when a single bullet struck him in the neck.

Despite immediate medical attention, King was pronounced dead at St. Joseph's Hospital just an hour later.

At around 6:01 PM, King was preparing to attend a dinner at a local minister's house.

He stepped onto the balcony and started speaking with colleagues in the courtyard below.

At that moment, a shot rang out, echoing through the motel's surroundings. According to accounts from those present, King fell immediately, causing a scene of panic and disbelief.

His colleagues pointed towards a rooming house across the street from the motel, from where they thought the shot had been fired.

Meanwhile, emergency services were called, and King was rushed to the hospital. Despite the doctors' best efforts, the wound proved to be fatal.

News of King's death sparked an immediate and intense reaction across the nation. Major cities erupted in a wave of riots, protests, and mourning.

The outpouring of grief was not just confined to the United States; condolences poured in from around the world, a testament to King's global influence.

Who was James Earl Ray, the assassin?

James Earl Ray, a petty criminal and escaped convict, was arrested and charged with the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Ray's journey from being a small-time criminal to the man convicted for one of the most significant political assassinations in American history is a complex and controversial part of this narrative.

Born into a poor family in Alton, Illinois, in 1928, Ray had a history of small criminal offenses.

In 1967, he escaped from the Missouri State Penitentiary where he was serving a 20-year sentence for a series of grocery store robberies.

Following his escape, Ray spent a year on the run, during which time he underwent a facial reconstruction surgery and assumed the alias of Eric Starvo Galt.

In the aftermath of King's assassination, evidence collected by the FBI pointed towards Ray as the prime suspect.

The murder weapon, a Remington Gamemaster rifle, was found dropped near the scene, along with a pair of binoculars and a newspaper clipping about King's whereabouts, all of which had fingerprints matching those of Ray.

Further investigations linked the alias Eric Galt to Ray and traced his movements to Atlanta, where King was based, and then to Memphis.

Two months after King's assassination, Ray was captured at London's Heathrow Airport.

He was extradited to the United States and in March 1969, against the advice of his lawyer, Ray pleaded guilty to King's murder, ostensibly to avoid the electric chair.

He was sentenced to 99 years in prison.

However, just days after his conviction, Ray recanted his guilty plea, claiming he was a patsy in a broader conspiracy that he suggested might involve the U.S. government.

Despite his efforts to appeal his conviction and his repeated claims of innocence until his death in 1998, Ray's guilty plea and the evidence against him have led many to accept him as King's assassin.

However, debates about his role and whether he acted alone continue to this day.

The impact and consequences of King's death

The assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1968, sent shockwaves through American society and the world.

The aftermath was immediate and intense, igniting a wave of civil unrest, deepening racial tensions, and creating a profound sense of loss that still reverberates today.

In the immediate aftermath, widespread riots erupted in over 100 cities across the United States, resulting in extensive property damage, numerous injuries, and the deployment of the National Guard in multiple states.

The intense civil unrest reflected the deep-seated racial tensions and the sense of frustration and despair felt by many African Americans and their allies.

King's assassination also had a profound impact on the civil rights movement. It left a leadership void and marked a turning point, signaling a shift from the nonviolent approach championed by King to a more militant and radical phase of the fight for racial equality.

Some argue that the assassination increased the appeal of groups like the Black Panther Party, which advocated for self-defense against racial violence.

Yet, in the wake of King's death, his dream of equality and his philosophy of nonviolent protest continued to inspire.

The assassination galvanized support for the civil rights cause, culminating in the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1968, also known as the Fair Housing Act, just days after King's death.

This was a significant victory, prohibiting discrimination concerning the sale, rental, or financing of housing.

On a global scale, King's death solidified his status as a martyr for the cause of civil rights and justice.

It amplified his message against racism, poverty, and militarism, giving it a global resonance that continues to inspire movements for social justice across the world.

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Martin Luther King Jr.

By: History.com Editors

Updated: January 10, 2023 | Original: November 9, 2009

Martin Luther King Jr. was a social activist and Baptist minister who played a key role in the American civil rights movement from the mid-1950s until his assassination in 1968. King sought equality and human rights for African Americans, the economically disadvantaged and all victims of injustice through peaceful protest. He was the driving force behind watershed events such as the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the 1963 March on Washington , which helped bring about such landmark legislation as the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act . King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 and is remembered each year on Martin Luther King Jr. Day , a U.S. federal holiday since 1986.

When Was Martin Luther King Born?

Martin Luther King Jr. was born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia , the second child of Martin Luther King Sr., a pastor, and Alberta Williams King, a former schoolteacher.

Along with his older sister Christine and younger brother Alfred Daniel Williams, he grew up in the city’s Sweet Auburn neighborhood, then home to some of the most prominent and prosperous African Americans in the country.

Did you know? The final section of Martin Luther King Jr.’s eloquent and iconic “I Have a Dream” speech is believed to have been largely improvised.

A gifted student, King attended segregated public schools and at the age of 15 was admitted to Morehouse College , the alma mater of both his father and maternal grandfather, where he studied medicine and law.

Although he had not intended to follow in his father’s footsteps by joining the ministry, he changed his mind under the mentorship of Morehouse’s president, Dr. Benjamin Mays, an influential theologian and outspoken advocate for racial equality. After graduating in 1948, King entered Crozer Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania , where he earned a Bachelor of Divinity degree, won a prestigious fellowship and was elected president of his predominantly white senior class.

King then enrolled in a graduate program at Boston University , completing his coursework in 1953 and earning a doctorate in systematic theology two years later. While in Boston he met Coretta Scott, a young singer from Alabama who was studying at the New England Conservatory of Music . The couple wed in 1953 and settled in Montgomery, Alabama, where King became pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church .

The Kings had four children: Yolanda Denise King, Martin Luther King III, Dexter Scott King and Bernice Albertine King.

Montgomery Bus Boycott

The King family had been living in Montgomery for less than a year when the highly segregated city became the epicenter of the burgeoning struggle for civil rights in America, galvanized by the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision of 1954.

On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks , secretary of the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People ( NAACP ), refused to give up her seat to a white passenger on a Montgomery bus and was arrested. Activists coordinated a bus boycott that would continue for 381 days. The Montgomery Bus Boycott placed a severe economic strain on the public transit system and downtown business owners. They chose Martin Luther King Jr. as the protest’s leader and official spokesman.

By the time the Supreme Court ruled segregated seating on public buses unconstitutional in November 1956, King—heavily influenced by Mahatma Gandhi and the activist Bayard Rustin —had entered the national spotlight as an inspirational proponent of organized, nonviolent resistance.

King had also become a target for white supremacists, who firebombed his family home that January.

On September 20, 1958, Izola Ware Curry walked into a Harlem department store where King was signing books and asked, “Are you Martin Luther King?” When he replied “yes,” she stabbed him in the chest with a knife. King survived, and the attempted assassination only reinforced his dedication to nonviolence: “The experience of these last few days has deepened my faith in the relevance of the spirit of nonviolence if necessary social change is peacefully to take place.”

Southern Christian Leadership Conference

Emboldened by the success of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, in 1957 he and other civil rights activists—most of them fellow ministers—founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), a group committed to achieving full equality for African Americans through nonviolent protest.

The SCLC motto was “Not one hair of one head of one person should be harmed.” King would remain at the helm of this influential organization until his death.

In his role as SCLC president, Martin Luther King Jr. traveled across the country and around the world, giving lectures on nonviolent protest and civil rights as well as meeting with religious figures, activists and political leaders.

During a month-long trip to India in 1959, he had the opportunity to meet family members and followers of Gandhi, the man he described in his autobiography as “the guiding light of our technique of nonviolent social change.” King also authored several books and articles during this time.

Letter from Birmingham Jail

In 1960 King and his family moved to Atlanta, his native city, where he joined his father as co-pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church . This new position did not stop King and his SCLC colleagues from becoming key players in many of the most significant civil rights battles of the 1960s.

Their philosophy of nonviolence was put to a particularly severe test during the Birmingham campaign of 1963, in which activists used a boycott, sit-ins and marches to protest segregation, unfair hiring practices and other injustices in one of America’s most racially divided cities.

Arrested for his involvement on April 12, King penned the civil rights manifesto known as the “ Letter from Birmingham Jail ,” an eloquent defense of civil disobedience addressed to a group of white clergymen who had criticized his tactics.

March on Washington

Later that year, Martin Luther King Jr. worked with a number of civil rights and religious groups to organize the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, a peaceful political rally designed to shed light on the injustices Black Americans continued to face across the country.

Held on August 28 and attended by some 200,000 to 300,000 participants, the event is widely regarded as a watershed moment in the history of the American civil rights movement and a factor in the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 .

"I Have a Dream" Speech

The March on Washington culminated in King’s most famous address, known as the “I Have a Dream” speech, a spirited call for peace and equality that many consider a masterpiece of rhetoric.

Standing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial —a monument to the president who a century earlier had brought down the institution of slavery in the United States—he shared his vision of a future in which “this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.'”

The speech and march cemented King’s reputation at home and abroad; later that year he was named “Man of the Year” by TIME magazine and in 1964 became, at the time, the youngest person ever awarded the Nobel Peace Prize .

In the spring of 1965, King’s elevated profile drew international attention to the violence that erupted between white segregationists and peaceful demonstrators in Selma, Alabama, where the SCLC and Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) had organized a voter registration campaign.

Captured on television, the brutal scene outraged many Americans and inspired supporters from across the country to gather in Alabama and take part in the Selma to Montgomery march led by King and supported by President Lyndon B. Johnson , who sent in federal troops to keep the peace.

That August, Congress passed the Voting Rights Act , which guaranteed the right to vote—first awarded by the 15th Amendment—to all African Americans.

Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.

The events in Selma deepened a growing rift between Martin Luther King Jr. and young radicals who repudiated his nonviolent methods and commitment to working within the established political framework.

As more militant Black leaders such as Stokely Carmichael rose to prominence, King broadened the scope of his activism to address issues such as the Vietnam War and poverty among Americans of all races. In 1967, King and the SCLC embarked on an ambitious program known as the Poor People’s Campaign, which was to include a massive march on the capital.

On the evening of April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King was assassinated . He was fatally shot while standing on the balcony of a motel in Memphis, where King had traveled to support a sanitation workers’ strike. In the wake of his death, a wave of riots swept major cities across the country, while President Johnson declared a national day of mourning.

James Earl Ray , an escaped convict and known racist, pleaded guilty to the murder and was sentenced to 99 years in prison. He later recanted his confession and gained some unlikely advocates, including members of the King family, before his death in 1998.

After years of campaigning by activists, members of Congress and Coretta Scott King, among others, in 1983 President Ronald Reagan signed a bill creating a U.S. federal holiday in honor of King.

Observed on the third Monday of January, Martin Luther King Day was first celebrated in 1986.

Martin Luther King Jr. Quotes

While his “I Have a Dream” speech is the most well-known piece of his writing, Martin Luther King Jr. was the author of multiple books, include “Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story,” “Why We Can’t Wait,” “Strength to Love,” “Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?” and the posthumously published “Trumpet of Conscience” with a foreword by Coretta Scott King. Here are some of the most famous Martin Luther King Jr. quotes:

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”

“Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.”

“The time is always right to do what is right.”

"True peace is not merely the absence of tension; it is the presence of justice."

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”

“Free at last, Free at last, Thank God almighty we are free at last.”

“Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase.”

“In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”

"I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant."

“I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.”

“Be a bush if you can't be a tree. If you can't be a highway, just be a trail. If you can't be a sun, be a star. For it isn't by size that you win or fail. Be the best of whatever you are.”

“Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?’”

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My Life in the Aftermath of Martin Luther King’s Assassination

By Clarence B. Jones and Stuart Connelly

The last time Martin phoned me, on the day of his assassination, the call came into my office in New York. I knew him so well that I figured I could anticipate the purpose for his call. He was in Memphis with Andrew Young and the Reverend Billy Kyles, going over the details of his schedule. I expected that he wanted to make sure he knew exactly when I’d be arriving in town to assist him. It was a matter of logistics—clerical stuff, really—and I was buried in other work. I shouted to my secretary, “Tell him I’ll be there on time.”

“You don’t want to speak with Dr. King?” she asked.

Not really; I’d had this conversation many times before. “Just let him know I need someone to pick me up at the airport. I’ll be there on time.”

And thus, I missed my chance at goodbye.

Later, a verse from the Book of Matthew would repeat itself in my mind: “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ ”

Martin did the most for the least. And everything we did for him was the least we could do. The day after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy , I had met Martin at LaGuardia Airport. He had stepped out of the jetway, shaking his head. “See, if they can kill the President of the United States, Clarence, then you and all the others might as well stop worrying about the fantasy that I can be protected,” he had said.

We didn’t ever stop worrying, but he was right.

February, 1968, was rough for the city of Memphis, Tennessee. On the first of the month, two members of the mostly Black Local 1733 of the American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees were crushed to death in the faulty trash compactor of their own garbage truck. Two weeks later, the union members staged a work stoppage, protesting the city’s lack of urgency in dealing with outdated equipment and dangerous working conditions. Before long, by the city’s count, nine hundred and thirty of a thousand and one hundred sanitation workers and two hundred and fourteen of two hundred and thirty sewage and drainage workers refused to show up for work. Garbage piled up in the streets, and the mayor, the stubborn former head of the Department of Public Works (a role in which he had overseen sanitation workers), was not interested in negotiation. He brought in white strikebreakers, and the animus intensified.

Dr. King wanted to go to Memphis in support of Local 1733. I opposed the idea—not on principle but because I had already scheduled several meetings that month in Manhattan to broker introductions with generous donors, introductions that Martin had repeatedly asked me to arrange. Moreover, the relationship between the striking African American garbage workers and the city of Memphis had become increasingly bitter.

Roy Wilkins, the executive director of the N.A.A.C.P. ; Bayard Rustin; and Billy Kyles convinced Martin that his presence in Memphis would be invaluable to the cause. So he went. On March 18th, he marched with the sanitation workers, and he planned to march with them again four days later, but the union postponed its second demonstration because of an unseasonable snowstorm. On the 28th, the workers resumed their march. This time, riots erupted. Amid the tumult, a police officer shot and killed Larry Payne, an unarmed sixteen-year-old boy. In the wake of that horror, the mayor called in the National Guard.

Martin showed no signs of leaving Memphis anytime soon, but I needed to prep him for the meetings, so I planned a trip to Memphis myself. My flight was scheduled to land in the evening of April 4, 1968. I was packing for the trip when my home phone rang. I was running late, and though my first impulse was to ignore the call, I answered.

Harry Belafonte was on the line. “I can’t talk now,” I told him. “I’m jumping in a cab for the airport.”

“Turn on the TV,” Harry said, “Martin’s been shot.” He hung up the phone.

I turned on the television that I kept in the bedroom. Walter Cronkite was reporting breaking news that echoed Harry’s words. “Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., has been shot,” Cronkite said.

I was stunned. I picked up the phone again and started calling my contacts in Memphis. One after another, every line was busy. A cold resignation swept through me. They finally got him.

I managed to reach Harry by phone again. “Am I getting on the plane?” I asked. We discussed the possibility, and we agreed that I could do more from my home, coördinating with our colleagues in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (S.C.L.C.), some of whom were in Memphis, but most of whom were still in Atlanta.

In the following hours, I was lost in the daze that often accompanies a sudden death. There was so much to be done. A practiced responsibility guided my movements, and my mind was occupied with plans and logistics, displacing grief. I tried to help from New York, making calls and introductions, responding to press inquiries. But it quickly became apparent that I needed to be down South, so Stanley Levison and I travelled to Atlanta to meet up with Harry.

The next few days were a tangle of duties and obligations.

There wasn’t a moment to waste on reflection. I held myself steady, assisting the family in planning the funeral, along with Harry and Stanley. Both men had long offered such stalwart support in Martin’s life and work—one, out front, the other, in the shadows—and here, at the end, they did everything they could to continue that legacy.

Together, the three of us tried to unburden Martin’s widow, Coretta, as much as possible. The Kings’ living room in Atlanta doubled as a command post. Planning the funeral was an enormous undertaking: there were questions about controlling the crowd, managing the media frenzy, selecting the pallbearers, deciding who might preside over the service itself. We were even worried about the safety of the funeral party and mourners—my friend Martin was a much more divisive figure during his lifetime than the man memorialized on library buildings and freeways today. In fact, the racist governor of Georgia refused to let Martin’s body lie in state, and he even kept the flag flying at full staff, until a federal mandate ordered him to lower it.

One day, Xernona Clayton, a Black female journalist and a member of the S.C.L.C., came to the house holding a bundle of clothes. She had gone to a store downtown, to pick out some outfits for Coretta so that she would have appropriate clothing to wear in the next few days and, of course, to Martin’s funeral. She had left the store with the bill unpaid, promising to return, she told us. Harry, Stanley, and I all took out our cards and handed them to Xernona, telling her to split the charges up among all three. “And, if there’s any problem,” I told her, “have the clerks call here for approval.”

Coretta liked the selection, and Xernona returned to the store to pay for them. We didn’t hear from anyone, and when Xernona returned, she gave us back our cards. The shopkeeper had refused payment, wanting to support the King family in their time of grief, Xernona said.

The day before the funeral, I received a call from William vanden Heuvel, a good friend of mine and a close friend to the Kennedy family. He told me that he was calling on behalf of Jacqueline Kennedy . The former First Lady would be attending the funeral, and she wanted to visit Coretta beforehand. Bill and I coördinated the details, and, on the eve of the funeral, I met Mrs. Kennedy at the door, escorting her into the private area off the dining room where Coretta had been spending most of her time.

“Coretta,” I said. “I have someone who wants to give her condolences.” The world’s second most famous widow turned to face the first. It was certainly no pleasure, but it was a surreal kind of honor to introduce two of America’s most prominent victims of political violence to each other.

In the days after the funeral, I returned to New York and tried to resume my work. With the planning behind me, I struggled to ignore a question that resurfaced in my mind again and again: Can you really live in a country that allowed something like this to happen?

I tried to reckon with the bitter heartbreak, but I fell short.

Soon, I began refusing some calls from the S.C.L.C. On other occasions, I called people there, and my messages went unreturned. As the weeks passed, I began to see my relationship with the movement differently: although I knew I had been inspired by Dr. King, I had never really understood—until circumstances forced me to understand—that I was really working only for the man. Dr. King had sculpted the S.C.L.C. mission, and I believed in that mission. But the nature of things became clear: the S.C.L.C. was an organization, not much better than most organizations, rife with ego, posturing, sabotage, blame, angst over employment and salary and status. In short, it was a group of people—well-intentioned as they might have been—who acted as people do when they are at work. Some organizations succeed at the nuts-and-bolts level, and others are meant to rise or fall with a “key man.” In the case of the S.C.L.C., Martin was the magic.

And, within the grander scope of the civil-rights movement, Martin had his enemies: those who were jealous of his influence, his presence on the national stage. And I was his man. Now persona non grata. Fine with me. I became so angry, I lost all interest in the S.C.L.C. version of the movement. There was nothing anybody could do. I was tired of giving and getting nowhere. I pulled away, retreating north, where I felt I really belonged, to a life that I decided would be more self-centered.

A return to form, I suppose.

I also believed that the American government had allowed Martin’s death to happen. His shift in focus—from demanding desegregation to demanding economic parity and an end to the unjust slaughter overseas—had led to his assassination. If worrying about Black folks, in 1963, made him the most dangerous Negro leader in the country, just imagine what the government thought of him by the time he was at Riverside Church, criticizing the President of the United States over the war in Vietnam .

Throughout the summer of 1968, I strongly considered becoming a militant. I could imagine taking up arms against the government. If you could do this to Martin King, who stood for nothing but peace and dignity, if you could bring your copper-jacketed tools of destruction and oppression to bear on such a man, maybe I’ll do the same thing to you. Why not join the Black Panthers ? Why not learn to make a bomb? Why not arm myself to the teeth and burn the whole motherfucker down?

In 2015, I met with James Comey , then the director of the F.B.I., for an hour in his office in Washington, D.C. We spoke about many things, including the assassination. He showed me what was beneath the glass on his desk: a photocopy of a memorandum from the former F.B.I. director J. Edgar Hoover , requesting authorization from Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy to wiretap Dr. King, and Kennedy’s authorization to do so. Comey kept a copy in plain sight, he said, so that, when his agents visited him in the office, they could be reminded of what the F.B.I. should not do.

I thought of Martin’s funeral. The procession stretched three miles long; the casket was placed on the back of a farm wagon pulled by mules. The eulogy was Martin’s own voice, prerecorded, delivering a sermon on how he should be remembered—asking that no one mention awards and honors but only the simple good he tried to do.

Mahalia Jackson, always Martin’s favorite, sang “Precious Lord, Take My Hand.” Later, there was a chorus of “We Shall Overcome.”

I didn’t think we would. Not this time.

There is a color picture from the funeral that I come across occasionally: Harry Belafonte, eyes rimmed red, right next to Coretta at Martin’s funeral. Fifty-five years have passed since that day; Martin’s been dead much longer than he was ever alive, and Harry died in April, never taking enough credit for the work that he did for the cause. And then here I am, nearing the age of ninety-three: the only one of the three left standing.

In time, I’ve come to terms with the assassination, but I’ve never come to peace with it. For years, my grief made me selfish and self-destructive. Long gone are the days when I considered domestic terrorism, but the pain still runs as deep now as it did then. After some time, I realized that to turn my back on the struggle would be to turn my back on Dr. King.

I never worked with the S.C.L.C. again, but I did get involved in politics, becoming a New York State delegate at the 1968 Democratic Convention. In the early seventies, I invested in one of America’s oldest and most influential Black papers, the New York Amsterdam News , and I tried to protect prisoner rights as a negotiator during the Attica uprising. I did my best to elevate Black culture, working to restore Harlem’s Apollo Theatre and build a network of Black radio stations.

And I’ve continued to bear witness to Martin’s life and character. There’s an African saying that I often reflect upon when I think about his legacy and my own part in his movement: if the surviving lions don’t tell their stories, the hunters will take all the credit. ♦

This is drawn from “ Last of the Lions . ”

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By Robert Samuels

By Nicholas Dawidoff

By Mike O’Brien

By Junot Díaz

Statement on Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., Indianapolis, Indiana, April 4, 1968

(The following text is taken from a news release version of Robert F. Kennedy's statement.) 

Senator Robert F. Kennedy Indianapolis, Indiana April 4, 1968

Listen to this speech .

I have bad news for you, for all of our fellow citizens, and people who love peace all over the world, and that is that Martin Luther King was shot and killed tonight.

Martin Luther King dedicated his life to love and to justice for his fellow human beings, and he died because of that effort.

In this difficult day, in this difficult time for the United States, it is perhaps well to ask what kind of a nation we are and what direction we want to move in. For those of you who are black--considering the evidence there evidently is that there were white people who were responsible--you can be filled with bitterness, with hatred, and a desire for revenge. We can move in that direction as a country, in great polarization--black people amongst black, white people amongst white, filled with hatred toward one another.

Or we can make an effort, as Martin Luther King did, to understand and to comprehend, and to replace that violence, that stain of bloodshed that has spread across our land, with an effort to understand with compassion and love.

For those of you who are black and are tempted to be filled with hatred and distrust at the injustice of such an act, against all white people, I can only say that I feel in my own heart the same kind of feeling. I had a member of my family killed, but he was killed by a white man. But we have to make an effort in the United States, we have to make an effort to understand, to go beyond these rather difficult times.

My favorite poet was Aeschylus. He wrote: "In our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God."

What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence or lawlessness; but love and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country, whether they be white or they be black.

So I shall ask you tonight to return home, to say a prayer for the family of Martin Luther King, that's true, but more importantly to say a prayer for our own country, which all of us love--a prayer for understanding and that compassion of which I spoke.

We can do well in this country. We will have difficult times; we've had difficult times in the past; we will have difficult times in the future. It is not the end of violence; it is not the end of lawlessness; it is not the end of disorder.

But the vast majority of white people and the vast majority of black people in this country want to live together, want to improve the quality of our life, and want justice for all human beings who abide in our land.

Let us dedicate ourselves to what the Greeks wrote so many years ago: to tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of this world.

Let us dedicate ourselves to that, and say a prayer for our country and for our people.

Source :  Papers of Robert F. Kennedy. Senate Papers . Speeches and Press Releases, Box 4, "4/1/68 - 4/10/68." John F. Kennedy Presidential Library.

Martin Luther King: Surprising facts about civil rights icon

• Published 16 January

As America pauses to honour Dr Martin Luther King Jr's legacy, experts say his fight against poverty and inequality is still just as relevant today as it was during the US civil rights movement.

Here are 10 little-known facts about the life and legacy of Dr Martin Luther King Jr.

'I have a dream' speech was improvised

Halfway through his speech at the 1963, gospel singer Mahalia Jackson shouted: "Tell them about the dream, Martin!"

The call-out prompted King to pivot to a previous sermon he'd delivered, where he described a version of the American Dream that was equal and accessible to all citizens.

"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin, but by the content of their character. I have a dream today," Dr King said.

The iconic moment would later become known as the "I have a dream" speech. And there is still work to be done to truly live up to Dr King's dream of equality, said Lerone Martin, director of the Martin Luther King Jr Research and Education Institute at Stanford University.

His dream of equality is quintessentially American, Mr Martin told the BBC.

"Despite all the disparagement he endured, King did a wonderful job of constantly trying to show how his efforts were in line with American ideals," he said.

• MLK and the race riot that never was

His birth name was Michael King

When born on 15 January 1929, he was named after his father, Michael King. But six years later, King's father visited Germany and learned about Martin Luther, the leader of the Protestant reformation.

He was said to have been so inspired that he returned home and officially changed both his and his eldest son's names to Martin Luther King.

King decided at college to become a preacher

In 1944, Martin Luther King Jr was admitted to Morehouse College at the age of 15. Generations of the King family had graduated from the prestigious all-male historically black college in Atlanta, Georgia.

According to the King Institute , the future civil rights leader was said to have been an "ordinary" student, but his time at Morehouse was instrumental in awakening his passion for social and political equality and inspired him to become a preacher.

He was arrested more than 25 times

In his 13 years as a civil rights leader, King was arrested 30 times, largely for misdemeanours and civil protest violations, according to the King Center . Though he was often a target of law enforcement, King did not relish being imprisoned.

He was arrested in October 1960 after a sit-in at a department store in Atlanta and was held in Georgia State Prison. He wrote to his wife , Coretta, from jail saying that he hoped the "excessive suffering that is now coming to our family will in some little way serve to make Atlanta a better city, Georgia a better state, and America a better country".

He wrote five books

According to the King Center, King wrote five books over the course of his lifetime and published numerous collections of his letters and sermons.

His 1964 book, Why We Can't Wait, recounted the events that led to the landmark Birmingham, Alabama, campaign to end segregation.

He was a Trekkie

Nichelle Nichols, better known as the original Lt Nyota Uhura in Star Trek, was once introduced to someone claiming to be "her biggest fan" - Dr Martin Luther King Jr. Nichols had resigned from her ground-breaking role on Star Trek days before they met at an awards ceremony. But when she informed King she planned to leave the show, she told the Television Academy Foundation , King was adamant that she could not abandon the iconic role.

"He said: 'For the first time on television we will be seen as we should be seen every day, as intelligent, quality, beautiful people… who can go into space,'" Nichols recalled.

"I just stood there realising every word he was saying was the truth. At that moment, the world tilted for me." She would continue in the role for years.

He survived previous assassination attempts

In September 1958, King was approached by a mentally ill woman as he signed copies of his latest book, Stride Toward Freedom, in Harlem, New York City. The woman verified that he was indeed King before stabbing him with a seven-inch blade.

At the time, doctors said he was "a sneeze away from death", because the knife was so close to his aorta, according to the King Institute.

After learning the woman was mentally ill, King said : "I bear no bitterness toward her" and instead called for her to receive treatment.

King's mother, Alberta, was also assassinated

On 30 June 1974, six years after King's assassination, a 23-year-old man shot and killed King's mother, Alberta Williams King, while she was playing the organ during a service at Ebenezer Baptist Church.

The shooter was found guilty and sentenced to death, but was later re-resentenced to life in prison in part because of the King family's opposition to the death penalty .

The King family paid for Julia Roberts' birth

In an interview with Gayle King that recently went viral , actress Julia Roberts confirmed a little-known fact about the day she was born.

"The King family paid for my hospital bills," she said, adding that the Roberts and King families became close because her parents welcomed King's children into their Atlanta acting school.

Later, when Julia was born and her family couldn't afford the hospital bills, King and his wife, Coretta, "helped us out of a jam".

He was only 39 when he was killed

Dr King was only 39 years old when he was assassinated on 4 April 1968. He spent less than 13 years in the public eye campaigning for civil rights and racial equality.

But according to the King Center, in that short amount of time he was able to bring more progress towards racial equality in the United States than the previous 350 years.

Related Topics

• African-American Civil Rights Movement
• Martin Luther King
• United States

More on this story

Yolanda King: 'We will fulfil my grandfather's dream'

• Published 28 August 2020

The surveillance of Martin Luther King Jr

• Published 16 January 2021

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Assassination Essay

The event, key dates, and description key individuals involved, public opinion of the event, effects of the event.

Martin Luther King Jr. was the leader of the civil rights movement in the United States. He led the fight for civil rights by example, speaking to the public and organizing massive peaceful protests. Despite the arrest and imprisonment of King Jr.’s direct killer, James Earl Ray, the potential sponsors of the murder have never been identified. It is logical to assume that these were people who had power and who were against the changes that the victory of the civil rights movement promised.

Of the 10% of Minnesota survey participants who felt guilty or responsible, 68% said that whites or they themselves did not do enough to address racial issues and improve conditions for the Negroes (“Assassination Nation,” 2018). Another 27% believed that all whites were responsible for the situation because of the prejudice and acts of racial discrimination prevailing in society. Survey participants who did not consider themselves involved, guilty or responsible for King’s death stated that “no involvement with assassination or with Negro problem is general” (28%), “I am not prejudiced against Negroes, have supported civil rights” (23 %), and “King’s (Negroes’) own fault was just stirring up trouble” (11%) (“Assassination Nation,” 2018, par. 5).

The assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. dealt a blow to the ideology of nonviolence and love that underpinned King’s philosophy and which he sought to make basic ideas for the civil rights movement. Congress for Mass Equality Director Floyd McKissick made the famous speech on the night after King’s assassination that “racial equality is a dead philosophy because it was killed by white racists” (Love, 2021, par. 7). Some civil rights advocates such as Stokely Carmichael suggested that the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., who encouraged the movement for nonviolent marches and tried to teach the people to show love and compassion, made a big mistake. According to Carmichael, in this way, the killers declared war on the members of the movement, among whom there were no others like Martin Luther King Jr.

Assassination Nation: Public Responses to King and Kennedy in 1968 . (2018). Web.

Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr . (2021). Web.

Love, D. (2021). What impact did King’s assassination have on the Black community? Web.

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• Stokely Carmichael’s Contribution to Black Nationalism
• Activists’ Role in African Americans’ Struggle for Equality
• Vietnam War Perceptions of African American Leaders
• King Jr. and Malcolm X in African American History
• Review on Cap the gap by Janine Carmichael
• "Black Power: Its Need and Substance" by Carmichael and Charles
• Peniel Joseph' Views on Barack Obama
• Leadership Lessons From Martin Luther King Jr.
• The Emergence and Popularity of the "Black Power" Slogan
• Martin Luther King, Jr.: Leadership Analysis
• Academic Reforms of George W. Bush
• Monograph of Winston Churchill
• Eberhardt Becoming a Player in French Imperial Politics
• Researching of Mark Zuckerberg’s Creativity
• Traits of an Effective Leadership in Practice

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Sample Essay On The Martin Luther King Assassination

Type of paper: Essay

Topic: Death , American Government , Evidence , Theory , Crime , Government , Martin Luther King , Politics

Words: 1200

Published: 03/30/2020

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Introduction

The assassination of Luther King is one of the conspiracy theories that has sparked a lot of controversy. Martin Luther King Jr., a civil rights leader was killed on April 1968 using a sniper bullet. King was killed while on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel located in Memphis. The conspiracy theory regarding the death of Martin Luther King Jr. does not have sufficient evidence that would make it possible to peg the death of King on particular individuals. This is because some of the evidence to assert the claims do not have sufficient backing as they are different from the actual facts.

Discussion: Arguments

The proponents of this conspiracy theory argue that Earl Jones was responsible for the death of King while many say that the US government was largely responsible for his death. It was alleged that Earl had killed King from a bathroom window that was behind the rooming house. However, it was later established that the gunfire that resulted in King’s death must have come from a window that was much higher than the rooming house where James had been staying. The argument that Ray was responsible for the murder of King is not valid. This is because there was no strong physical evidence that could back up the claim that James Earl Ray was responsible for the assassination of King. If the investigations showed that the angle used to shoot King was from a higher position than the bathroom window was alleged to have shot King from then this position is false and frees Ray from the accusation. The sole reason why Ray spent his entire life in prison was because he pleaded guilty to the murder charges preferred against him (Stein 90). He was coerced into making a false confession, so even though he retracted his statement he was never released. He remained in prison until his death. In any case, Dr. King’s family believed that Ray was innocent. In fact, they were able to win the court, which was aimed at proving that the death of Martin Luther King Jr. had been a conspiracy. Solomon Jones, King’s driver during his visit in Memphis said that he had seen someone run into the bush that was opposite the motel. However, King’s aides said that they had not seen anyone in the bushes where Ray was alleged to have gone into hiding. Some of the witnesses were Andrew Young, the former U.N ambassador, Reverend Bernard Lee and Chauncey Eskridge who was an attorney. U.S investigators later concluded that what Jones had seen was probably police officers heading towards the scene of the incident (Dyson 102). After some years, Jones further changed his testimony and said that a man came to his bar from the back door and handed him a rifle to hide. In fact, he changed his version of the story two times and even died without taking a definite stand. The fact that Jones changed his statement twice shows that he was not certain about what happened during King’s death. The statements given by King’s aides and police officers contradicted his position, hence this theory was dismissed. Another theory that was staged by Pepper, the lawyer in charge of the Earl’s case said that intelligence agents had taken a photo of the real killer while spying on King. Pepper confessed that he had never seen the photo of the shooter, but they were confident it was not Ray. Actually, the fact was that the intelligence agents were not there during the death of King given that they had been on the roof of the motel two days earlier. The finger prints of Earl Ray were found on a binoculars and rifle, which was found close to the scene of the incident and which he had bought six days prior to King’s shooting (Pepper 72). Given that there was no photo it cannot be determined with certainty whether Earl is guilty. Additionally, the fingerprints on the rifle and binoculars do not suffice as evidence because they could have been planted at the scene of a crime. The other popular belief was that the US government had killed King. It was suspected that the government in Tennessee and Memphis might both be involved in the assassination of King. The government would have had a motive to kill Martin Luther Jr. In order to stop him from engaging in the campaign of alleviating poverty and suffering amongst the poor. What is even more intriguing was the insistence of the US government that the jury had made a mistake to convict Earl, yet they did not offer any substantial argument for their claim. Despite the fact that James Earl Ray had been a criminal the federal government still insisted that he was innocent of the charges regarding King’s assassination. Since, 1955 King had engaged in civil rights movements. For instance, in 1955, he held a peaceful protest for the Montgomery Bus Boycott. It is speculated that the other reason the federal government may have killed King was to prevent black supremacy. King had been extremely vocal about issues, and it was feared that the blacks would become extremely powerful (Dyson 80). The US government felt that the superiority of the whites was threatened by the activities of Martin Luther King Jr. thus; they would be able to secure their position by eliminating King. As such, there is no concrete evidence that one can use to determine with certainty the real assassins of King.

I believe these conspiracy that Ray was the assassin of King is not true. This is because it is evident that the allegations leveled against Ray did not have a solid backing. At some point, it was alleged that he was the man who ran to the bush after the shoot out yet in actual sense it was discovered that the police officers who had conducted a search in the bush had not found a trace of anyone. Moreover, the family of King and the US government were convinced that Ray was innocent. The US government, especially must have had a legitimate reason for insisting that Ray was innocent. This shows that there were certain secrets the federal government was hiding from the public. Additionally, there is no concrete evidence that the US government assassinated King, rather this is just a popular speculation.

Dyson, Michael E. April 4, 1968: Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Death and How It Changed America. New York: Basic Civitas Books, 2008. Print. Pepper, William F, and William F. Pepper. An Act of State: The Execution of Martin Luther King. London: Verso, 2003. Print. Stein, R C. The Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. New York: Children's Press, 1998. Print.

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Martin Luther King Essay for Students and Children

500+ Words Essay on Martin Luter King

Martin Luther King Jr. was an African-American leader in the U.S. He lost his life while performing a peaceful protest for the betterment of blacks in America. His real name was Michael King Jr. He completed his studies and attained a Ph.D. After that, he joined the American Civil Right Movement. He was among one of the great men who dedicated their life for the community.

Reason for Martin Luther King to be famous

There are two reasons for someone to be famous either he is a good man or a very bad person. Martin Luther King was among the good one who dedicated his life to the community. Martin Luther King was also known as MLK Jr. He gained popularity after he became the leader and spokesperson of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and 1960s.

Martin Luther King was an American activist, minister, and humanitarian. Also, he had worked for several other causes and actively participated in many protests and boycotts. He was a peaceful man that has faith in Christian beliefs and non-violence. Also, his inspiration for them was the work of Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela. For his work in the field of civil rights, the Nobel Committee awarded him the Nobel Peace Prize.

He was a great speaker that motivated the blacks to protest using non-violence. Also, he uses peaceful strategies like a boycott, protest march , and sit-ins, etc. for protests against the government.

Impact of King

King is one of the renowned leaders of the African-American who worked for the welfare of his community throughout his life. He was very famous among the community and is the strongest voice of the community. King and his fellow companies and peaceful protesters forced the government several times to bend their laws. Also, kings’ life made a seismic impact on life and thinking of the blacks. He was among one of the great leaders of the era.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

Humanitarian and civil rights work

As we know that King was a civic leader . Also, he has taken part in many civil right campaigns and boycotts like the Bus Boycott, Voting Rights and the most famous March on Washington. In this march along with more than 200,000 people, he marched towards Washington for human right. Also, it’s the largest human right campaign in U.S.A. history. During the protest, he gave a speech named “I Have a Dream” which is history’s one of the renowned speeches.

Death and memorial

During his life working as a leader of the Civil Rights Movement he makes many enemies. Also, the government and plans do everything to hurt his reputation. Martin Luther King was assassinated in 1968. Every year the US celebrates his anniversary as Martin Luther King Jr. day in the US. Also, they honored kings’ memory by naming school and building after him and a Memorial at Independence Mall.

Martin Luther King was a great man who dedicated his whole life for his community. Also, he was an active leader and a great spokesperson that not only served his people but also humanity. It was due to his contribution that the African-American got their civil rights.

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Rhetorical Analysis of “Remarks on the Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr” Speech Essay Example

Martin Luther King Jr, the leader of the American civil rights movement and organizer of peaceful protests, was assassinated on April 4th, 1968. To many, it seemed as if their world would never be the same. Many thought segregation and racial injustice would continue on for the rest of their lives.  In “Remarks on the Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr”, Robert F. Kennedy uses lots of anaphora and ethos in order to guide those who were upset and distraught about King’s death to react with peace and understanding. 

Kennedy is talented in his speaking and very eloquent, but his use of anaphora is a bit repetitive. He hadn’t intended to give this speech very far in advance. He looked at the stack of papers in his hands only once and at the beginning of his speech. The frequent anaphora was most likely a result of being unprepared. The use of anaphora in every paragraph gets mundane for the audience and can lose attention. Kennedy spoke quickly in a few parts of his speech, perhaps trying to keep the audience engaged. At least he used different topics or ideas as the root of his anaphora, but repeating over and over can’t hold someone’s attention for long. Switching up or combining rhetorical devices is how speakers can hold attention. Kennedy addresses the crowd and says, “What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence or lawlessness” and follows in the next paragraph with the idea for “[them] tonight to return home, [and] to say a prayer for the family of Martin Luther King” (1,1). Using the same device many times cannot and will not always make a perfect, powerful speech remembered through history, but grit, power, and passion can and obviously can. It wasn’t the amount of times he used anaphora that stands out, it's the raw drive and power behind it. Kennedy has an empathetic tone that remains empowering. He achieved 

Using ethos isn’t always an easy feat, but Kennedy is very talented and knows how to use it well. The topic choice and delivery in his speech proves that he is well educated, as well as quoting his “favorite poet,” Aeschylus (1). Kennedy says, “He wrote: ‘In our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God’"(1). To many, including me, this quote’s meaning isn’t easily understandable. If Kennedy understands the meaning of this, he must be very well educated in literature. Knowledge is power and he understands complex poetry, a fact that demands respect. A person would be more likely to allow themselves to be influenced by a knowledgeable and respected person. In paragraph 5, Kennedy reminds the audience that he has experienced death before and is qualified to tell them how they must deal with it. His brother, John F. Kennedy, was assassinated in 1963. That’s five years before King’s assassination and this speech. He knew how to deal with death because of the loss of someone very close to him and that has power. Grief upbrings people’s respect and attention. Kennedy used his past as leverage to convince upset people that he has also been upset and “to replace that violence, that stain of bloodshed that has spread across our land, with an effort to understand with compassion and love” (1). By saying “We will have difficult times; we've had difficult times in the past; we will have difficult times in the future” in paragraph 9, Kennedy uses brief allusion to bring up America’s past not only to make himself seem knowledgeable but to inspire them to hold onto hope and not believe the world is ending. Understanding and remembering history isn’t something many normal people can do. Kennedy knows this and weilds it to his advantage, using ethos to make himself seem smart.

This speech had been scheduled for weeks, but Kennedy wasn’t even supposed to be there. He had been advised to stay home by friends and staff. Their actions were proof that he needed to redirect those ideas, not stay out of it because of fear. He went into Indianapolis without his security team to deliver this speech. He felt so compelled to calm the people and direct them in a way for peace instead of violence that he was willing to risk his own life and safety to deliver this speech. If Kennedy’s brilliant use of ethos and his excessive but effective use of anaphora didn’t convince the audience, maybe his drive and raw willpower would. Kennedy comforted and guided people’s broken hearts. America  might be very different now if he hadn’t.

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Home — Essay Samples — Social Issues — Martin Luther King — Martin Luther King Jr: Quotes, Assassination & Facts

Martin Luther King Jr: Quotes, Assassination & Facts

• Categories: Martin Luther King

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Words: 681 |

Published: Jan 29, 2019

Words: 681 | Page: 1 | 4 min read

When Was Martin Luther King Born?

I have a dream.

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Related Essays on Martin Luther King

An Icon's Words: In the turbulent 1960s, Martin Luther King Jr.'s words echoed through the American conscience, igniting change and inspiring hope. In this essay, we'll delve into the power of his speeches and the [...]

Overview of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have A Dream" speech and its historical significance Mention of King's use of rhetorical devices to influence and inspire his audience Discussion of King's allusions to the [...]

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote the “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” on April 16, 1963. The logical and well put together letter was written as a response to a statement in the newspaper, which was written by some clergymen. Dr. [...]

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Robert F. Kennedy shows his sympathy and shares his advice in this speech. He shows how instead of us all show hatred towards one another, we should all come together and do great things for this country. He talks about how Blacks should not hate whites for the death of Martin Luther King Jr., although they could, but they should come together and continue what Martin had started but didn’t get the chance to finish. Use this time of mourning to figure what we want to achieve with this country. This is in the Statement on the Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. by Robert F. Kennedy.

Human compassion informs our understanding of the world because your compassion affects your actions and that affects society as a whole, the world basically. The compassion that people felt for Martin Luther King Jr’s death brought most of society together to try and finish the dream Martin started but didn’t have the chance to finish. Usually, human compassion is learned through feeling sorry for someone. People may have learned a little bit more about being compassionate through the death of Martin. The actions people took after his death were based on compassion. Racism and equality may not be solved now, but if we all felt some compassion for others, we definitely could achieve it.

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57 Famous Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Quotes About Love, Justice and Equality

On MLK Day (and every day), look to these inspirational words.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was one of the most influential trailblazers of American history.

Despite the Civil Rights Movement starting over 60 years ago, his profound actions and inspirational words are still echoed today, especially during times of racial disparity. To honor him and his work, we are sharing some of the most beloved Martin Luther King Jr. quotes from past essays, speeches, letters and from The Autobiography of Martin Luther King Jr.

From powerful words about love, kindness, justice, equity and so much more, we hope that these MLK Jr. quotes will inspire and commemorate the great legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. during the month of January and beyond. And to learn more about the man himself, check out our list of the best Martin Luther King Jr. movies and documentaries out there.

From his 1963 book, "Strength to Love":

One day we will learn that the heart can never be totally right when the head is totally wrong.

- Strength to Love

From his "I Have a Dream" speech, August 1963:

We will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope.

- " I Have a Dream " speech, August 1963

From "Letter from a Birmingham Jail," April 1963:

Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.

- " Letter from a Birmingham Jail ," April 1963

From his 1964 Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech:

I refuse to accept despair as the final response to the ambiguities of history.

- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech , 1964

Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever. The yearning for freedom eventually manifests itself.

A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law.

From his autobiography, “The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr.”:

The Western arrogance of feeling that it has everything to teach others and nothing to learn from them is not just.

- The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr., 2001

From his essay “The Purpose of Education," 1947

Education must enable one to sift and weigh evidence, to discern the true from the false, the real from the unreal, and the facts from the fiction.

- “ The Purpose of Education ," 1947

From “The American Dream” speech given at Lincoln University, Oxford, Penn. June 6, 1961:

I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. You can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be.

- “ The American Dream ,” 1961

From “A Tough Mind and a Tender Heart” sermon, August 30, 1959:

Science investigates; religion interprets. Science gives man knowledge, which is power; religion gives man wisdom, which is control. Science deals mainly with facts; religion deals mainly with values. The two are not rivals.

- “ A Tough Mind and a Tender Heart ,” 1959

From his "Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?”:

Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is love correcting everything that stands against love.

- " Where Do We Go From Here? ," 1967

We must condemn those who are perpetuating the violence, and not the individuals who engage in the pursuit of their constitutional rights.

From his speech before a group of students at Barratt Junior High School, October 26, 1967:

Be a bush if you can't be a tree. If you can't be a highway, just be a trail. If you can't be a sun, be a star. For it isn't by size that you win or fail. Be the best of whatever you are.

- Speech for students at Barratt Junior High School , 1967

From his “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speech, April 3, 1968:

For when people get caught up with that which is right and they are willing to sacrifice for it, there is no stopping point short of victory.

- “ I’ve Been to the Mountaintop ,” 1968

I came to the conclusion that there is an existential moment in your life when you must decide to speak for yourself; nobody else can speak for you.

From "Stride Toward Freedom," 1958:

You must be willing to suffer the anger of the opponent, and yet not return anger. No matter how emotional your opponents are, you must remain calm.

- Stride Toward Freedom , 1958

We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.

From his essay “The Purpose of Education," 1947:

The complete education gives one not only power of concentration, but worthy objectives upon which to concentrate.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

RELATED: What Is the Answer to Overcoming Racism in America?

We cannot long survive spiritually separated in a world that is geographically together.

Hannah Jeon is an Associate Commerce Editor at Prevention, where she covers expert-driven commerce content for all things health, beauty, and wellness. Previously the Editorial Assistant at Good Housekeeping, she earned her bachelor’s degree in creative writing and psychology from Johns Hopkins University. When she’s not on the hunt for all the best products online, you can often find her trying out new food spots in New York City or clicking away behind a camera.

Katarina Avendaño (she/her) is the senior SEO editor for Good Housekeeping , where she writes and edits lifestyle content and contributes to SEO strategy. Before joining GH in 2021, she was the digital editor at New York Family , where she was responsible for the website’s content and strategy. Katarina received her bachelor's degree in communications and Spanish from the University of Washington.

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Statement on the John F. Kennedy assassination

Author:  King, Martin Luther, Jr.

Date:  November 22, 1963

Location:  Atlanta, Ga. ?

Genre:  Press Release

Topic:  Martin Luther King, Jr. - Political and Social Views

I am shocked and griefstricken at the tragic assassination of President Kennedy. He was a great and dedicated President. His death is a great loss to America and the world. The finest tribute that the American people can pay to the late President Kennedy is to implement the progressive policies that he sought to initiate in foreign and domestic relations.

Source:  MLKJP-GAMK, Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers (Series I-IV), Martin Luther King, Jr., Center for Nonviolent Social Change, Inc., Atlanta, Ga., Vault box 2.

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