Martin Luther King Jr. was one of the most influential and symbolic leaders of the civil rights era. He came from a long line of baptist preachers By 1954, King served as a member of the executive committee of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People which at the time was the leading organization in the entire nation. King was also the youngest man to have ever received the Nobel Peace Prize at the age of thirty-five.
On Thursday April 4, 1968 Martin Luther King Jr. was shot standing on the balcony of his motel room in Memphis ,Tennessee.King was in town of Memphis to prepare for a march that was set to be held on that Monday for the striking of Memphis sanitation workers. As he was stepping out of his motel room his assassin James Earl Ray shot fire at King. He was convicted for Kings assassination and was given a ninety-nine year prison sentence.
The night before his death King gave a speech at the Mason Temple Church in Memphis. Here is where he gave his famous "I have been to the Mountaintop" speech. In this speech he was claimed to have foreshadowed his own death. In his speech he says: “I’ve seen the promised land. 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. I’m not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.”
On April 8, Kings wife Coretta Scott King and other family members joined in on a march in Memphis lead by thousands of other people in honor of King. This march was the one that King was originally in town for. It now was held in memory of King and also the support of the Memphis Sanitation Workers. His funeral was held in Atlanta at the Ebenezer Baptist Church where many fellow Civil Rights activists and political figures attended to pay there respects to King.
Sources:https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/assassination-martin-luther-king-jr
https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/martin-luther-king-jr-assassination
https://www.britannica.com/event/assassination-of-Martin-Luther-King-Jr
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