Assassination of Martin Luther King
History: KS3, topic 21.1.17
The Assassination of Martin Luther King 1968
On 4th April 1968, Martin Luther King was assassinated in Memphis. This was extremely detrimental to the Civil Rights Movement.
Assassination
- Martin Luther King was preparing for a march in Memphis, Tennessee to support refuse collectors, planning a ‘Poor People’s Campaign’.
- On 4th April 1968, he was shot dead at the age of 39 on the balcony of his hotel room.
- A man was seen fleeing the area, and a rifle and binoculars were found stashed near the hotel.
Perpetrator
- James Earl Ray was arrested for the assassination over 2 months later at Heathrow Airport in London after his fingerprints matched those found on the rifle.
- Ray was allegedly attempting to flee to Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), which at the time was controlled by Prime Minister Ian Smith's white supremacist government.
Guilty plea
- After being extradited back to Tennessee, James Earl Ray confessed to the murder and entered a guilty plea.
- He was sentenced to 99 years in prison.
- However, he spent the rest of his life trying to withdraw his guilty plea.
- Many have disputed that James Earl Ray was the sole participant in Martin Luther King's assassination.
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