Martin Luther King, Jr.
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{{Infobox revolution biography
|name = Martin Luther King, Jr.
|lived = [[January 15]] [[1929]]–[[April 4]] [[1968]]
|dateofbirth = {{birth date|1929|1|15|mf=y}}
|placeofbirth = [[Atlanta, Georgia]], [[United States|U.S.]]
|dateofdeath = {{death date and age|1968|4|4|1929|1|15}}
|placeofdeath = [[Memphis, Tennessee]], [[United States|U.S.]]
|image = [[Image:Martin Luther King Jr NYWTS.jpg|250px]]
|spouse = [[Coretta Scott King]]
|children = [[Yolanda King|Yolanda Denise-King]], [[Martin Luther King III|Martin Luther III]], [[Dexter King|Dexter Scott]], [[Bernice King|Bernice Albertine]]
|movement = [[African-American Civil Rights Movement (1955–1968)|African-American Civil Rights Movement]] and [[Peace movement]]
|organizations = [[Southern Christian Leadership Conference]]
|Political Affiliation = unknown
|monuments = [[Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial]] (planned)
|alma mater = [[Morehouse College]] <br /> [[Crozer Theological Seminary]] <br /> [[Boston University]]
|prizes = [[Nobel Peace Prize]] (1964)<br />[[Presidential Medal of Freedom]] (1977, posthumous) <br /> [[Congressional Gold Medal]] (2004, posthumous)
|religion = [[Progressive National Baptist Convention|Baptist]]
|influences = [[Jesus]], [[Howard Thurman]], [[Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi|Mahatma Gandhi]], [[Henry David Thoreau]], [[Rosa Parks]], [[Bayard Rustin]]
|influenced = [[Coretta Scott King]], [[Jesse Jackson]]
|footnotes =
}}
'''Martin Luther King, Jr.''' ([[January 15]] [[1929]]{{ndash}} [[April 4]] [[1968]]) was a leader in the [[United States|American]] [[African-American Civil Rights Movement (1955–1968)|civil rights movement]].
A [[Progressive National Baptist Convention|Baptist]] minister, he became a civil rights activist early in his career. He led the [[Montgomery Bus Boycott]] (1955–6) and helped found the [[Southern Christian Leadership Conference]] (1957), serving as its first president. His efforts led to the 1963 [[March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom|March on Washington]], where King delivered his “[[I Have a Dream]]” speech. There, he raised public consciousness of the civil rights movement and established himself as one of the greatest [[orators]] in U.S. history.
In 1964, King became the youngest person to receive the [[Nobel Peace Prize]] for his work to end [[racial segregation|segregation]] and [[racism|racial]] [[discrimination]] through [[civil disobedience]] and other [[nonviolence|non-violent]] means. By the time of his death in 1968, he had refocused his efforts on ending poverty and opposing the [[Vietnam War]], both from a religious perspective.
King was [[Martin Luther King, Jr. assassination|assassinated]] on [[April 4]] [[1968]], in [[Memphis, Tennessee]]. He was posthumously awarded the [[Presidential Medal of Freedom]] in 1977 and [[Congressional Gold Medal]] in 2004; [[Martin Luther King, Jr. Day]] was established as a [[Federal holiday|national holiday]] in the United States in 1986.
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==Early life==
{{African American topics (sidebar)|right}}
Martin Luther King, Jr., was born on [[January 15]] [[1929]], in [[Atlanta]], [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]]. He was the son of the [[Reverend]] [[Martin Luther King, Sr.]] and [[Alberta Williams King]].<ref>{{cite book|title=All Deliberate Speed: Reflections on the First Half Century of Brown v. Board of Education|publisher=W.W. Norton & Company|pages=138|last=Ogletree|first=Charles J.|isbn=0393058972|date=2004}}</ref> King's father was born "Michael King", and Martin Luther King, Jr. was initially named "Michael King, Jr.", until the family traveled to Europe in 1934 and visited Germany. His father soon changed both of their names to Martin to honor the German Protestant [[Martin Luther]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Martin Luther King, Jr.|last=Ling|first=Peter J.|pages=11|publisher=Routledge|date=2002|isbn=0415216648}}</ref> He had an older sister, [[Christine King Farris|Willie Christine]] (born [[September 11]] [[1927]]) and a younger brother, [[Alfred Daniel Williams King|Alfred Daniel]] ([[July 30]] [[1930]] – [[July 1]] [[1969]]).<ref>{{cite book|last=King, Jr.|first=Martin Luther|coauthors=Clayborne Carson; Peter Holloran; Ralph Luker; Penny A. Russell|title=The papers of Martin Luther King, Jr.|publisher=University of California Press|date=1992|isbn=0520079507|pages=76}}</ref> King sang with his church choir at the 1939 Atlanta premiere of the movie ''[[Gone with the Wind (film)|Gone with the Wind]].''<ref>{{cite book|last=Katznelson|first=Ira|pages=5|title=When Affirmative Action was White: An Untold History of Racial Inequality in Twentieth-Century America|isbn=0393052133|date=2005|publisher=W.W. Norton & Company}}</ref>
He entered [[Morehouse College]] at age fifteen, skipping his ninth and twelfth high school grades without formally graduating.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.|last=Ching|first=Jacqueline|pages=18|isbn=0823935434|publisher=Rosen Publishing Group|date=2002}}</ref> In 1948, he graduated from Morehouse with a [[Bachelor of Arts]] (B.A.) degree in [[sociology]],<ref>{{cite book|title=To See the Promised Land: The Faith Pilgrimage of Martin Luther King, Jr|pages=150|last=Downing|first=Frederick L.|publisher=Mercer University Press|date=1986|isbn=0865542074}}</ref> and enrolled in [[Crozer Theological Seminary]] in [[Chester, Pennsylvania|Chester]], [[Pennsylvania]], from which he graduated with a [[Bachelor of Divinity]] (B.D.) degree in 1951.<ref>{{cite book|title=Gandhi and King: The Power of Nonviolent Resistance|last=Nojeim|first=Michael J.|pages=179|isbn=0275965740|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|date=2004}}</ref> In September 1951, King began doctoral studies in [[systematic theology]] at [[Boston University]] and received his [[Doctor of Philosophy]] (Ph.D.) on [[June 5]] [[1955]]. A 1980s inquiry concluded portions had been [[plagiarism|plagiarized]] and he had acted improperly but that his dissertation still "makes an intelligent contribution to scholarship".<ref name=kingcenterbio/><ref> See [[Martin Luther King, Jr. authorship issues]]. See also: {{cite book|last=Baldwin|first=Lewis V.|pages=298|title=To Make the Wounded Whole: The Cultural Legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr.|isbn=0800625439|publisher=Fortress Press|date=1992}} and {{cite web|title=Boston U. Panel Finds Plagiarism by Dr. King|date=1991-10-11|accessdate=2008-06-14|publisher=The New York Times|url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CEFD61030F932A25753C1A967958260}} and {{cite book|title=Citizen Designer: Perspectives on Design Responsibility|last=Heller|first=Steven|coauthors=Veronique Vienne|pages=156|isbn=1581152655|publisher=Allworth Communications, Inc.|date=2003}}</ref>
King married [[Coretta Scott]],<ref name=fam>{{cite book|title=King Came Preaching: The Pulpit Power of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.|pages=35|last=Warren|first=Mervyn A.|isbn=0830826580|date=2001|publisher=InterVarsity Press}}</ref> on 18 June 1953, on the lawn of her mother's house. King and Scott had four children; [[Yolanda King|Yolanda Denise King]], [[Martin Luther King III|Martin Luther III]], [[Dexter King|Dexter Scott]], and [[Bernice King|Bernice Albertine]].<ref name=fam/> In 1954, at age twenty-five, King became pastor of the [[Dexter Avenue Baptist Church]] in [[Montgomery, Alabama]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Fuller|first=Linda K.|pages=314|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|date=2004|isbn=0275972704|title=National Days/National Ways: Historical, Political, And Religious Celebrations around the World}}</ref>
==Influences==
'''Thurman'''<br>
Civil rights leader, theologian, and educator [[Howard Thurman]] was an early influence on King. A classmate of King's father at [[Morehouse College]],<ref>{{cite book|title=With Head and Heart: The Autobiography of Howard Thurman|last=Thurman|first=Howard|pages=254|publisher=Harcourt|date=1981|isbn=015697648X}}</ref> Thurman mentored the young King and his friends.<ref>{{cite book|pages=6|last=Thurman|first=Howard|coauthors=Walter E. Fluker; Catherine Tumber|publisher=Beacon Press|date=1998|isbn=080701057X|title=A Strange Freedom: The Best of Howard Thurman on Religious Experience and Public Life}}</ref> Thurman's missionary work had taken him abroad where he had met and conferred with [[Mohandas Gandhi]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Black Heritage Sites: An African American Odyssey and Finder's Guide|last=Curtis|first=Nancy C.|isbn=0838906435|publisher=ALA Editions|date=1996|pages=62}}</ref> When he was a student at Boston University, King often visited Thurman, who was the dean of Marsh Chapel.<ref>{{cite book|last=Marsh|first=Charles|pages=122|title=God's Long Summer: Stories of Faith and Civil Rights|date=1999|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=0691029407}}</ref> Walter Fluker, who has studied Thurman's writings, has stated, "I don't believe you'd get a Martin Luther King, Jr. without a Howard Thurman".<ref>{{cite web|title=The Legacy of Howard Thurman - Mystic and Theologian|date=2002-01-18|accessdate=2008-06-12|work=Religion & Ethics Newsweekly|publisher=PBS|url=http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/week520/feature.html}}</ref>
'''Gandhi and Rustin'''<br>
Inspired by [[Mohandas Gandhi]]'s success with non-violent activism, King visited the Gandhi family in India in 1959, with assistance from the [[Quaker]] group the [[American Friends Service Committee]] (AFSC).<ref>{{cite book|last=King, Jr.|first=Martin Luther|coauthors=Clayborne Carson; Peter Holloran; Ralph Luker; Penny A. Russell|title=The papers of Martin Luther King, Jr.|publisher=University of California Press|date=1992|isbn=0520079507|pages=3}}</ref> The trip to India affected King in a profound way, deepening his understanding of non-violent resistance and his commitment to America’s struggle for civil rights. In a radio address made during his final evening in India, King reflected, “Since being in India, I am more convinced than ever before that the method of nonviolent resistance is the most potent weapon available to oppressed people in their struggle for justice and human dignity. In a real sense, Mahatma Gandhi embodied in his life certain universal principles that are inherent in the moral structure of the universe, and these principles are as inescapable as the law of gravitation.”<ref>{{cite book|last=King, Jr.|first=Martin Luther|coauthors=Clayborne Carson; Peter Holloran; Ralph Luker; Penny A. Russell|title=The papers of Martin Luther King, Jr.|publisher=University of California Press|date=1992|isbn=0520079507|pages=135-136}}</ref> African American civil rights activist [[Bayard Rustin]], who had studied Gandhi's teachings,<ref>{{cite web|title=Book Review: Bayard Rustin: Troubles I've Seen|last=Kahlenberg|first=Richard D.|publisher=Washington Monthly|url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1316/is_n4_v29/ai_19279952|accessdate=2008-06-12}}</ref> counseled King to dedicate himself to the principles of non-violence,<ref>{{cite book|pages=217|last=Bennett|first=Scott H.|title=Radical Pacifism: The War Resisters League and Gandhian Nonviolence in America, 1915-1963|publisher=Syracuse University Press|date=2003|isbn=0815630034}}</ref> served as King's main advisor and mentor throughout his early activism,<ref>{{cite book|title=The Spirit of the Sixties: Making Postwar Radicalism|last=Farrell|first=James J.|pages=90|isbn=0415913853|publisher=Routledge|date=1997}}</ref> and was the main organizer of the 1963 March on Washington.<ref>{{cite book|pages=138|first=David|last=De Leon|title=Leaders from the 1960s: a biographical sourcebook of American activism|date=1994|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=0313274142}}</ref> Rustin's open [[homosexuality]], support of [[democratic socialism]], and his former ties to the [[Communist Party USA]] caused many white and African-American leaders to demand King distance himself from Rustin.<ref>{{cite book|pages=62|last=Arsenault|first=Raymond|title=Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice|isbn=0195136748|publisher=Oxford University Press US|date=2006}}</ref>
==Montgomery Bus Boycott, 1955==
On [[December 1]] [[1955]], [[Rosa Parks]] was arrested for refusing to comply with the [[Jim Crow laws]] that required her to give up her seat to a white man.<ref>{{cite web|title=December 1, 1955: Rosa Parks arrested|date=2003-03-11|publisher=CNN|accessdate=2008-06-08|url=http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/03/10/sprj.80.1955.parks/index.html}}</ref> The [[Montgomery Bus Boycott]], urged and planned by [[E. D. Nixon]] (head of the Montgomery [[NAACP]] chapter and a member of the [[Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters]]) and led by King, soon followed.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Montgomery Bus Boycott|pages=24|last=Walsh|first=Frank|publisher=Gareth Stevens|date=2003|isbn=0836854039}}</ref> (In March 1955, a fifteen-year-old school girl, [[Claudette Colvin]], had to give up her seat, but King did not then become involved.)<ref>{{cite book|title=Martin Luther King Jr: Dreaming of Equality|last=Manheimer|first=Ann S.|pages=103|date=2004|publisher=Twenty-First Century Books|isbn=1575056275}}</ref> The boycott lasted for 385 days,<ref>{{cite book|title=Ethical Leadership Through Transforming Justice|last=McMahon|first=Thomas F.|pages=25|isbn=0761829083|publisher=University Press of America|date=2004}}</ref> and the situation became so tense that King's house was bombed.<ref>{{cite book|title=Patterns of Conflict, Paths to Peace|last=Fisk|first=Larry J.|pages=115|publisher=Broadview Press|isbn=1551111543|coauthors=John Schellenberg|date=1999}}</ref> King was arrested during this campaign,<ref>{{cite book|last=King, Jr.|first=Martin Luther|coauthors=Clayborne Carson; Peter Holloran; Ralph Luker; Penny A. Russell|title=The papers of Martin Luther King, Jr.|publisher=University of California Press|date=1992|isbn=0520079507|pages=9}}</ref> which ended with a United States District Court ruling in ''[[Browder v. Gayle]]'' that ended [[racial segregation]] on all Montgomery public buses.<ref>{{cite book|title=From Civil Rights to Human Rights: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Struggle for Economic Justice|last=Jackson|first=Thomas F.|isbn=0812239695|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|date=2007|pages=53}}</ref>
== Southern Christian Leadership Conference ==
King was instrumental in the founding of the [[Southern Christian Leadership Conference]] (SCLC) in 1957, a group created to harness the moral authority and organizing power of black churches to conduct non-violent protests in the service of civil rights reform. King led the organization until the time of his death.<ref>{{cite book|title=Let Nobody Turn Us Around: Voices of Resistance, Reform, and Renewal: an African American Anthology|last=Marable|first=Manning|coauthors=Leith Mullings|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=084768346X|date=2000|pages=391-392}}</ref> In 1958, while signing copies of his book ''Strive Toward Freedom'' in a Harlem department store, he was stabbed in the chest by [[Izola Curry]], a deranged black woman with a letter opener, and narrowly escaped death.<ref>{{cite book|title=Coretta: The Story of Coretta Scott King|last=Vivian|first=Octavia|pages=45|isbn=0800638557|publisher=Fortress Press|date=2006}}</ref>
King was an adherent of the philosophies of nonviolent [[civil disobedience]] as described in [[Henry David Thoreau]]'s essay of the same name,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.stanford.edu/group/King//publications/autobiography/chp_2.htm|title=The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr.: Morehouse College|publisher=The Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute|accessdate=2008-06-08}}</ref> and used successfully in [[India]] by "the Mahatma", [[Mahatma Gandhi|Mohandas K. Gandhi]].<ref>{{cite book|title= Education for Peace: Testimonies from World Religions|pages=143|last=Gordon|first=Haim|coauthors=Leonard Grob|publisher=Orbis Books|date=1987|isbn=0883443597}}</ref> King applied this philosophy to the protests [[Community organizing|organized]] by the SCLC.<!--The Chicago Daily Tribune states that Gandhi's nonviolent techniques were useful to King's campaign to correct the civil rights laws implemented in Alabama - ProQuest: "New Sitdowns Stir Violence in Tennessee" - Author Unknown, ''The Chicago Daily Tribune'', [[April 12]], [[1960]], retrieved [[March 11]] [[2006]].--> In 1959, he wrote ''The Measure of A Man'', from which the piece ''[[What is Man? (King)|What is Man?]]'', an attempt to sketch the optimal political, social, and economic structure of society, is derived.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Measure of a Man|last=King, Jr.|first=Martin Luther|pages=9|isbn=0800608771|publisher=Fortress Press|date=1988}}</ref>
The [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]], under written directive from then Attorney General [[Robert F. Kennedy]], began [[wiretapping]] King in 1963.<ref>{{cite book|title=The FBI: A Comprehensive Reference Guide|last=Theoharis|first=Athan G.|coauthors=Tony G. Poveda; Richard Gid Powers; Susan Rosenfeld|pages=148|isbn=089774991X|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|date=1999}}</ref> J. Edgar Hoover feared that [[Communism|Communists]] were trying to infiltrate the Civil Rights Movement, but when no such evidence emerged, the bureau used the incidental details caught on tape over the next five years in attempts to force King out of the preeminent leadership position.<ref>{{cite book|title=The FBI: A Comprehensive Reference Guide|last=Theoharis|first=Athan G.|coauthors=Tony G. Poveda; Richard Gid Powers; Susan Rosenfeld|pages=123|isbn=089774991X|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|date=1999}}</ref>
King correctly recognized that organized, nonviolent protest against the system of southern segregation known as [[Jim Crow laws]] would lead to extensive media coverage of the struggle for black equality and voting rights. Journalistic accounts and televised footage of the daily deprivation and indignities suffered by southern blacks, and of segregationist violence and harassment of civil rights workers and marchers, produced a wave of sympathetic public opinion that convinced the majority of Americans that the [[Civil rights|Civil Rights Movement]] was the most important issue in American politics in the early 1960s.<ref>{{cite book|title=Race and Labor Matters in the New U.S. Economy|last=Wilson|first=Joseph|coauthors=Manning Marable; Immanuel Ness|pages=47|isbn=0742546918|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|date=2006}} See also: {{cite book|title=Architects of Political Change: Constitutional Quandaries and Social Choice Theory|last=Schofield|first=Norman|isbn=0521832020|publisher=Cambridge University Press|date=2006|pages=189}}</ref>
King organized and led marches for blacks' right to [[Voting|vote]], [[desegregation]], [[labor rights]] and other basic civil rights.<ref>{{cite book|title=From Civil Rights to Human Rights: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Struggle for Economic Justice|last=Jackson|first=Thomas F.|isbn=0812239695|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|date=2007|pages=85}}</ref> Most of these rights were successfully enacted into [[Law of the United States|United States law]] with the passage of the [[Civil Rights Act of 1964]] and the [[Voting Rights Act of 1965]].<ref>{{cite book|title= International Encyclopedia of Public Policy and Administration|last=Shafritz|first=Jay M.|pages=1242|date=1998|isbn=0813399742|publisher=Westview Press}} See also: {{cite book|title=The Civil Rights Act of 1964: The Passage of the Law that Ended Racial Segregation|last=Loevy|first=Robert D.|coauthors=Hubert H. Humphrey; John G. Stewart|isbn=0791433617|publisher=SUNY Press|date=1997|pages=337}}</ref>
King and the SCLC applied the principles of nonviolent protest with great success by strategically choosing the method of protest and the places in which protests were carried out. There were often dramatic stand-offs with segregationist authorities. Sometimes these confrontations turned violent.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Human Tradition in the Civil Rights Movement|last=Glisson|first=Susan M.|pages=190|isbn=0742544095|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|date=2006}}</ref> King and the SCLC were instrumental in the unsuccessful [[Albany Movement]] in [[Albany, Georgia]], in 1961 and 1962, where divisions within the black community and the canny, low-key response by local government defeated efforts;<ref>{{cite book|title=The Human Tradition in the Civil Rights Movement|last=Glisson|first=Susan M.|pages=190-193|isbn=0742544095|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|date=2006}}</ref> in the [[Birmingham, Alabama|Birmingham]] protests in the summer of 1963;<ref>{{cite book|title=Unto a Good Land: A History of the American People, Volume 2|pages=1055|coauthors=Edwin S. Gaustad; Randall M. Miller, John B. Boles; Randall Bennett Woods; Sally Foreman Griffith|last=Harrell|first=David Edwin|isbn=0802829457|publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing}}</ref> and in the protest in [[St. Augustine, Florida]], in 1964.<ref>{{cite book|title=African Americans in Florida: An Illustrated History|pages=113-115|last=Jones|first=Maxine D.|coauthors=Kevin M. McCarthy|isbn=156164031X|publisher=Pineapple Press Inc.|date=1993}}</ref> King and the SCLC joined forces with the [[Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee]] (SNCC) in [[Selma, Alabama]], in December 1964, where SNCC had been working on voter registration for several months.<ref>{{cite news|last=Haley|first=Alex|title=Martin Luther King|work=The Playboy Interview|authorlink=Alex Haley|publisher=[[Playboy]]|date=January 1965|url=http://www.playboy.com/arts-entertainment/features/mlk/index.html|accessdate=2006-09-17}}</ref>
==March on Washington, 1963==
{{main|March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom}}
[[Image:March on Washington edit.jpg|thumb|left|[[March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom]]]]
[[Image:Martin Luther King - March on Washington.jpg|thumb|right|King is perhaps most famous for his "[[I Have a Dream]]" speech, given in front of the [[Lincoln Memorial]] during the 1963 [[March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom]].]]
King, representing SCLC, was among the leaders of the so-called "Big Six" civil rights organizations who were instrumental in the organization of the [[March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom]] in 1963. The other leaders and organizations comprising the Big Six were: [[Roy Wilkins]], [[NAACP]]; [[Whitney Young]], Jr., [[National Urban League|Urban League]]; [[A. Philip Randolph]], [[Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters]]; [[John Lewis (politician)|John Lewis]], [[Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee|SNCC]]; and [[James L. Farmer, Jr.|James Farmer]] of the [[Congress of Racial Equality]] (CORE).<ref>{{cite book|pages=1251|title=Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience|last=Gates|first=Henry Louis|coauthors=Anthony Appiah|publisher=Basic Civitas Books|isbn=0465000711|date=1999|pages=1251}}</ref> The primary logistical and strategic organizer was King's colleague [[Bayard Rustin]].<ref>{{cite book|title=African-Americans and the Quest for Civil Rights, 1900-1990|last=Cashman|first=Sean Dennis|pages=162|isbn=0814714412|publisher=NYU Press|date=1991}}</ref> For King, this role was another which courted controversy, since he was one of the key figures who acceded to the wishes of President [[John F. Kennedy]] in changing the focus of the march.<ref>{{cite book|title=Robert Kennedy and His Times|last=Schlesinger, Jr.|first=Arthur Meier|pages=351|isbn=0618219285|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Books|date=2002}} See also: {{cite book|pages=74|last=Marable|first=Manning|isbn=0878054936|date=1991|publisher=Univ. Press of Mississippi|title=Race, Reform, and Rebellion: The Second Reconstruction in Black America, 1945-1990}}</ref> Kennedy initially opposed the march outright, because he was concerned it would negatively impact the drive for passage of civil rights legislation, but the organizers were firm that the march would proceed.<ref>{{cite book|title=Kennedy, Johnson, and the Quest for Justice: The Civil Rights Tapes|last=Rosenberg|first=Jonathan|coauthors=Zachary Karabell|pages=130|isbn=0393051226|date=2003|publisher=W. W. Norton & Company}}</ref>
The march originally was conceived as an event to dramatize the desperate condition of blacks in [[Southern United States|the South]] and a very public opportunity to place organizers' concerns and grievances squarely before the seat of power in the nation's capital. Organizers intended to excoriate and then challenge the federal government for its failure to safeguard the civil rights and physical safety of civil rights workers and blacks, generally, in the South. However, the group acquiesced to presidential pressure and influence, and the event ultimately took on a far less strident tone.<ref name=farce>{{cite book|title=Living for Change: An Autobiography|last=Boggs|first=Grace Lee|pages=127|publisher=U of Minnesota Press|date=1998|isbn=0816629552}}</ref> As a result, some civil rights activists felt it presented an inaccurate, sanitized pageant of racial harmony; [[Malcolm X]] called it the "Farce on Washington," and members of the [[Nation of Islam]] were not permitted to attend the march.<ref name=farce/><ref>{{cite book|title=Mysteries in History: From Prehistory to the Present|last=Aron|first=Paul|pages=399|isbn=1851098992|publisher=ABC-CLIO|date=2005}}</ref>
The march did, however, make specific demands: an end to racial segregation in public school; meaningful civil rights legislation, including a law prohibiting racial discrimination in employment; protection of civil rights workers from police brutality; a $2 [[minimum wage]] for all workers; and self-government for the [[Washington, D.C.|District of Columbia]], then governed by congressional committee.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Sixties in America|last=Singleton|first=Carl|coauthors=Rowena Wildin|pages=454|isbn=0893569828|publisher=Salem Press|date=1999}} See also: {{cite book|last=Bennett|first=Scott H.|pages=225|date=2003|publisher=Syracuse University Press|isbn=0815630034|title=Radical Pacifism: The War Resisters League and Gandhian Nonviolence in America, 1915-1963}} See also: {{cite web|title=Celebrating the Birthday and Public Holiday for Martin Luther King, Jr.|last=Davis|first=Rep. Danny|publisher=Library of Congress|url=http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?r110:46:./temp/~r110JkVd5O::|accessdate=2008-06-09|date=2007-01-16}}</ref> Despite tensions, the march was a resounding success. More than a quarter million people of diverse ethnicities attended the event, sprawling from the steps of the [[Lincoln Memorial]] onto the [[National Mall]] and around the reflecting pool. At the time, it was the largest gathering of protesters in Washington's history.<ref>{{cite book|pages=313|last=Powers|first=Roger S.|coauthors=William B. Vogele; Christopher Kruegler; Ronald M. McCarthy|publisher=Taylor & Francis|date=1997|isbn=0815309139|title=Protest, power, and change: an encyclopedia of nonviolent action from ACT-UP to Women's Suffrage}}</ref> King's "[[I Have a Dream]]" speech electrified the crowd. It is regarded, along with [[Abraham Lincoln]]'s [[Gettysburg Address]] and [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]]'s [[Infamy Speech]], as one of the finest speeches in the history of American oratory.<ref>{{cite web|title=Dream Assignment|publisher=Smithsonian Magazine|date=2003-08-01|accessdate=2008-06-09|last=Moore|first=Lucinda|url=http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/dream-speech.html}}</ref>
Throughout his career of service, King wrote and spoke frequently, drawing on his experience as a preacher. His "[[Letter from Birmingham Jail]]", written in 1963, is a "passionate" statement of his crusade for [[justice]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Galchutt|first=Kathryn M.|pages=194|isbn=086554946X|publisher=Mercer University Press|date=2005|title=The Career of Andrew Schulze, 1924-1968: Lutherans And Race in the Civil Rights Era}}</ref> On [[October 14]] [[1964]], King became the youngest recipient of the [[Nobel Peace Prize]], which was awarded to him for leading non-violent resistance to end racial prejudice in the [[United States]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Makers of Modern Culture: Makers of Culture|last=Wintle|first=Justin|pages=272|publisher=Routledge|date=2001|isbn=0415265835}}</ref>
==Stance on compensation==
[[Image:Martin-Luther-King-1964-leaning-on-a-lectern.jpg|thumb|right|King giving a lecture on [[26 March]] [[1964]]]]
Martin Luther King Jr. expressed a view that black Americans, as well as other disadvantaged Americans, should be compensated for historical wrongs. In an interview conducted for ''[[Playboy]]'' in 1965, he said that granting black Americans only equality could not realistically close the economic gap between them and whites. King said that he did not seek a full restitution of wages lost to slavery, which he believed impossible, but proposed a government compensatory program of US$50 billion over ten years to all disadvantaged groups. He posited that "the money spent would be more than amply justified by the benefits that would accrue to the nation through a spectacular decline in school dropouts, family breakups, crime rates, illegitimacy, swollen relief rolls, rioting and other social evils".<ref>{{cite book|title=A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr.|last=Washington|first=James M.|date=1991|publisher=HarperCollins|isbn=0-06-064691-8|pages=365-367}}</ref> He presented this idea as an application of the [[common law]] regarding settlement of unpaid labor but clarified that he felt that the money should not be spent exclusively on blacks. He stated, "It should benefit the disadvantaged of ''all'' races".<ref>{{cite book|title=A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr.|last=Washington|first=James M.|date=1991|publisher=HarperCollins|isbn=0-06-064691-8|pages=367-368}}</ref>
=="Bloody Sunday", 1965==
{{main|Selma to Montgomery marches}}
King and [[Southern Christian Leadership Conference|SCLC]], in partial collaboration with [[Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee|SNCC]], attempted to organize a march from [[Selma, Alabama|Selma]] to the state capital of [[Montgomery, Alabama|Montgomery]], for [[March 7]] [[1965]]. The first attempt to march on [[March 7]] was aborted because of mob and police violence against the demonstrators. This day has since become known as [[Selma to Montgomery marches|Bloody Sunday]]. Bloody Sunday was a major turning point in the effort to gain public support for the Civil Rights Movement, the clearest demonstration up to that time of the dramatic potential of King's nonviolence strategy. King, however, was not present. After meeting with [[President of the United States|President]] [[Lyndon B. Johnson]], he decided not to endorse the march, but it was carried out against his wishes and without his presence on March 7 by local civil rights leaders. Footage of [[police brutality]] against the protesters was broadcast extensively and aroused national public outrage.<ref>{{cite book|title=From Civil Rights to Human Rights: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Struggle for Economic Justice|last=Jackson|first=Thomas F.|isbn=0812239695|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|date=2007|pages=222-223}}</ref>
King next attempted to organize a march for March 9. The SCLC petitioned for an injunction in federal court against the State of Alabama; this was denied and the judge issued an order blocking the march until after a hearing. Nonetheless, King led marchers on March 9 to the Edmund Pettus bridge, then held a short prayer session before turning the marchers around and asking them to disperse so as not to violate the court order. The unexpected ending of this second march aroused the surprise and anger of many within the local movement.<ref>{{cite book|title=From Civil Rights to Human Rights: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Struggle for Economic Justice|last=Jackson|first=Thomas F.|isbn=0812239695|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|date=2007|pages=223}}</ref> The march finally went ahead fully on [[March 25]]; it was during this march that Willie Ricks coined the phrase "[[Black Power]]" (widely credited to [[Stokely Carmichael]]).<ref>{{cite book|last=Isserman|first=Maurice|title=America Divided: The Civil War of the 1960s|coauthors=Michael Kazin|pages=175|publisher=Oxford University Press US|date=2000|isbn=0195091906}} See also: {{cite book|title=The Riotmakers|last=Azbell|first=Joe|publisher=Oak Tree Books|date=1968|pages=176}}</ref> At the conclusion of the march and on the steps of the [[Alabama State Capitol|state capitol building]], King delivered a speech that has become known as "[[How Long, Not Long]]."<ref>{{cite book|last=Leeman|first=Richard W.|title=African-American Orators: A Bio-critical Sourcebook|pages=220|isbn=0313290148|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|date=1996}}</ref>
==Chicago, 1966==
[[Image:Martin Luther King, Jr. and Lyndon Johnson.jpg|thumb|right|King with President [[Lyndon Johnson]] in 1966]]
In 1966, after several successes in the South, King and other people in the civil rights organizations tried to spread the movement to the North, with [[Chicago]] as its first destination. King and [[Ralph Abernathy]], both middle class folk, moved into Chicago's slums as an educational experience and to demonstrate their support and empathy for the poor.<ref>{{cite book|last=Cohen|first=Adam Seth|pages=360-362|coauthors=Elizabeth Taylor|publisher=Back Bay|date=2000|isbn=0316834890|title=Pharaoh: Mayor Richard J. Daley : His Battle for Chicago and the Nation}}</ref>
The SCLC formed a coalition with CCCO, Coordinating Council of Community Organizations, an organization founded by [[Albert Raby|Albert Raby, Jr.]], and the combined organizations' efforts were fostered under the aegis of The Chicago Freedom Movement (CFM).<ref>{{cite book|pages=1|last=Ralph|first=James|isbn=0674626877|publisher=Harvard University Press|date=1993|title=Northern Protest: Martin Luther King, Jr., Chicago, and the Civil Rights Movement}}</ref> During that spring several dual white couple/black couple tests on real estate offices uncovered the practice, now banned by the Real Estate Industry, of "steering"; these tests revealed the racially selective processing of housing requests by couples who were exact matches in income, background, number of children, and other attributes, with the only difference being their race.<ref>{{cite book|last=Cohen|first=Adam Seth|pages=347|coauthors=Elizabeth Taylor|publisher=Back Bay|date=2000|isbn=0316834890|title=Pharaoh: Mayor Richard J. Daley : His Battle for Chicago and the Nation}}</ref>
The needs of the movement for radical change grew, and several larger marches were planned and executed, including those in the following neighborhoods: Bogan, Belmont-Cragin, Jefferson Park, Evergreen Park (a suburb southwest of Chicago), Gage Park and Marquette Park, among others.<ref>{{cite book|last=Cohen|first=Adam Seth|pages=416|coauthors=Elizabeth Taylor|publisher=Back Bay|date=2000|isbn=0316834890|title=Pharaoh: Mayor Richard J. Daley : His Battle for Chicago and the Nation}} See also: {{cite book|pages=1|last=Ralph|first=James|isbn=0674626877|publisher=Harvard University Press|date=1993|title=Northern Protest: Martin Luther King, Jr., Chicago, and the Civil Rights Movement}} See also: {{cite book|last=Fairclough|first=Adam|pages=299|title=To Redeem the Soul of America: The Southern Christian Leadership Conference & Martin Luther King, Jr.|date=1987|publisher=University of Georgia Press|isbn=0820323462}}</ref>
In Chicago, Abernathy later wrote that they received a worse reception than they had in the South. Their marches were met by thrown bottles and screaming throngs, and they were truly afraid of starting a riot.<ref>{{cite book|title=Chicago: City Guide|last=Baty|first=Chris|pages=52|publisher=Lonely Planet|isbn=1741040329}} See also: {{cite book|title=Jesse Jackson|last=Stone|first=Eddie|pages=59-60|isbn=087067840X|publisher=Holloway House Publishing|date=1988}}</ref> King's beliefs mitigated against his staging a violent event, and he negotiated an agreement with Mayor [[Richard J. Daley]] to cancel a march in order to avoid the violence that he feared would result from the demonstration.<ref>{{cite book|last=Lentz|first=Richard|title=Symbols, the News Magazines, and Martin Luther King|pages=230|publisher=LSU Press|date=1990|isbn=0807125245}}</ref> King, who received death threats throughout his involvement in the civil rights movement, was hit by a brick during one march but continued to lead marches in the face of personal danger.<ref>{{cite book|last=Isserman|first=Maurice|title=America Divided: The Civil War of the 1960s|coauthors=Michael Kazin|pages=200|publisher=Oxford University Press US|date=2000|isbn=0195091906}} See also: {{cite book|pages=139|last=Miller|first=Keith D.|title=Voice of Deliverance: The Language of Martin Luther King, Jr., and Its Sources|isbn=0820320137|publisher=University of Georgia Press|date=1998}}</ref>
When King and his allies returned to the south, they left [[Jesse Jackson]], a seminary student who had previously joined the movement in the South, in charge of their organization.<ref>{{cite book|title=Meet Martin Luther King, Jr.|pages=20|last=Mis|first Melody S.|isbn=1404242090|publisher=Rosen Publishing Group|date=2008}}</ref> Jackson continued their struggle for civil rights by organizing the [[Operation Breadbasket]] movement that targeted chain stores that did not deal fairly with blacks.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Betrayal of the Urban Poor|last=Slessarev|first=Helene|pages=140|publisher=Temple University Press|date=1997|isbn=1566395437}}</ref>
==Opposition to the Vietnam War==
Starting in 1965, King began to express doubts about the United States' role in the [[Vietnam War]]. In an [[April 4]] [[1967]] appearance at the [[New York City]] [[Riverside Church]]—exactly one year before his death—King delivered a speech titled "Beyond Vietnam".<ref name=vwar29>{{cite book|title=The African American Voice in U.S. Foreign Policy Since World War II|last=Krenn|first=Michael L.|pages=29|isbn=0815334184|publisher=Taylor & Francis|date=1998}}</ref> In the speech, he spoke strongly against the U.S.'s role in the war, insisting that the U.S. was in Vietnam "to occupy it as an American colony"<ref>{{cite book|title=Against the Vietnam War: Writings by Activists|pages=107|last=Robbins|first=Mary Susannah|isbn=0742559149|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|date=2007}}</ref> and calling the U.S. government "the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today".<ref>{{cite book|title=Against the Vietnam War: Writings by Activists|pages=102|last=Robbins|first=Mary Susannah|isbn=0742559149|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|date=2007}}</ref> He also argued that the country needed larger and broader moral changes:
{{Cquote|''A true revolution of values will soon look uneasily on the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth. With righteous indignation, it will look across the seas and see individual capitalists of the West investing huge sums of money in [[Asia]], [[Africa]] and [[South America]], only to take the profits out with no concern for the social betterment of the countries, and say: "This is not just."<ref name=vwar109>{{cite book|title=Against the Vietnam War: Writings by Activists|pages=109|last=Robbins|first=Mary Susannah|isbn=0742559149|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|date=2007}}</ref>}}
King also was opposed to the Vietnam War on the grounds that the war took money and resources that could have been spent on the [[War on Poverty]]. The [[United States Congress]] was spending more and more on the military and less and less on anti-poverty programs at the same time. He summed up this aspect by saying, "A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death".<ref name=vwar109/>
King was long hated by many white [[Southern United States|southern]] segregationists, but this speech turned the more mainstream media against him. ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'' magazine called the speech "demagogic slander that sounded like a script for [[Radio Hanoi]]",<ref name=vwar29/> and ''[[The Washington Post]]'' declared that King had "diminished his usefulness to his cause, his country, his people."<ref>{{cite book|title=Debating the Civil Rights Movement, 1945-1968|last=Lawson|first=Steven F.|coauthors=Charles M. Payne; James T. Patterson|pages=148|isbn=0742551091|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|date=2006}}</ref>
With regard to [[Vietnam]], King claimed that North Vietnam "did not begin to send in any large number of supplies or men until American forces had arrived in the tens of thousands".<ref>{{cite book|title=Against the Vietnam War: Writings by Activists|pages=106|last=Robbins|first=Mary Susannah|isbn=0742559149|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|date=2007}}</ref> King also criticized the United States' resistance to North Vietnam's land reforms.<ref>{{cite book|title=Against Us, But for Us: Martin Luther King, Jr. and the State|pages=199|last=Long|first=Michael G.|isbn=0865547688|publisher=Mercer University Press|date=2002}}</ref> He accused the United States of having killed a million Vietnamese, "mostly children."<ref>{{cite book|last=Baldwin|first=Lewis V.|pages=273|title=To Make the Wounded Whole: The Cultural Legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr.|isbn=0800625439|publisher=Fortress Press|date=1992}}</ref>
The speech was a reflection of King's evolving political advocacy in his later years, which paralleled the teachings of the progressive [[Highlander Research and Education Center]], with whom King was affiliated.<ref>{{cite book|title=Restaging the Sixties: Radical Theaters and Their Legacies|pages=297|last=Harding|James Martin|coauthors=Cindy Rosenthal|isbn=0472069543|publisher=University of Michigan Press|date=2006}} See also: {{cite book|title=Symbols, the News Magazines, and Martin Luther King|last=Lentz|first=Richard|pages=64|publisher=LSU Press|date=1990|isbn=0807125245}}</ref> King began to speak of the need for fundamental changes in the political and economic life of the nation. Toward the end of his life, King more frequently expressed his opposition to the war and his desire to see a redistribution of resources to correct racial and economic injustice.<ref>{{cite book|title=Martin Luther King, Jr.|last=Ling|first=Peter J.|pages=277|publisher=Routledge|date=2002|isbn=0415216648}}</ref> Though his public language was guarded, so as to avoid being linked to communism by his political enemies, in private he sometimes spoke of his support for [[democratic socialism]]. In one speech, he stated that "something is wrong with capitalism" and claimed, "There must be a better distribution of wealth, and maybe America must move toward a [[democratic socialism]]."<ref>{{cite book|title=Liberating Visions: Human Fulfillment and Social Justice in African-American Thought|last=Franklin|first=Robert Michael|pages=125|publisher=Fortress Press|date=1990|isbn=0800623924}}</ref></blockquote>
King had read [[Marx]] while at Morehouse, but while he rejected "traditional capitalism," he also rejected Communism because of its "materialistic interpretation of history" that denied religion, its "ethical relativism," and its "political totalitarianism."<ref>{{cite book|pages=39|last=King, Jr.|title=The Martin Luther King, Jr. Companion: Quotations from the Speeches, Essays, and Books of Martin Luther King, Jr.|first=Martin Luther|coauthors=Coretta Scott King; Dexter Scott King|isbn=0312199902|publisher=St. Martin's Press|date=1998}}</ref>
King also stated in his "Beyond Vietnam" speech that "true compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar....it comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring".<ref name=v122>{{cite book|title=The Power of Nonviolence: Writings by Advocates of Peace|pages=122|last=Zinn|first=Howard|publisher=Beacon Press|isbn=0807014079|date=2002}}</ref> King quoted a United States official, who said that, from Vietnam to [[South America]] to [[Latin America]], the country was "on the wrong side of a world revolution"<ref name=v122/> King condemned America's "alliance with the landed gentry of Latin America," and said that the United States should support "the shirtless and barefoot people" in the [[Third World]] rather than suppressing their attempts at revolution.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Power of Nonviolence: Writings by Advocates of Peace|pages=122-123|last=Zinn|first=Howard|publisher=Beacon Press|isbn=0807014079|date=2002}}</ref>
==Poor People's Campaign, 1968==
In 1968, King and the SCLC organized the "[[Poor People's Campaign]]" to address issues of economic justice. However, King and SCLC's Poor People's Campaign was not unanimously supported by the other leaders of the Civil Rights Movement, including Bayard Rustin. Their opposition incorporated arguments that the goals of Poor People Campaign were too broad, the demands unrealizable, and thought these campaigns would accelerate the backlash and repression on the poor and the black.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Other American: The Life of Michael Harrington|last=Isserman|first=Maurice|pages=281|isbn=1586480367|publisher=PublicAffairs|date=2001}}</ref>
The campaign culminated in a march on Washington, D.C. demanding economic aid to the poorest communities of the United States<ref>{{cite book|first=Ernesto B.|last=Vigil|title=The Crusade for Justice: Chicano Militancy and the Government's War on Dissent|pages=54|publisher=University of Wisconsin Press|isbn=0299162249|date=1999}}</ref> King traveled the country to assemble "a multiracial army of the poor" that would march on Washington to engage in nonviolent civil disobedience at the Capitol until Congress created a bill of rights for poor Americans.<ref name=lied>{{cite book|last=Kick|first=Russell|pages=1991|isbn=0966410076|publisher=The Disinformation Campaign|date=2001|title=You are Being Lied to: The Disinformation Guide to Media Distortion, Historical Whitewashes and Cultural Myths}}</ref>
King and the SCLC called on the government to invest in rebuilding America's cities. He felt that Congress had shown "hostility to the poor" by spending "military funds with alacrity and generosity". He contrasted this with the situation faced by poor Americans, claiming that Congress had merely provided "poverty funds with miserliness".<ref name=lied/> His vision was for change that was more revolutionary than mere reform: he cited systematic flaws of "racism, poverty, militarism and materialism", and argued that "reconstruction of society itself is the real issue to be faced".<ref>{{cite book|title=Debating the Civil Rights Movement, 1945-1968|last=Lawson|first=Steven F.|coauthors=Charles M. Payne; James T. Patterson|pages=148-149|isbn=0742551091|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|date=2006}}</ref>
==Assassination==
'''{{main|Martin Luther King, Jr. assassination}}'''
[[Image:Martin Luther King was shot here Small Web view.jpg|thumb|250px|The [[Lorraine Motel]], where King was assassinated, is now the site of the National Civil Rights Museum]]
On [[March 29]] [[1968]], King went to [[Memphis, Tennessee]] in support of the black sanitary public works employees, represented by [[AFSCME]] Local 1733, who had been on strike since [[March 12]] for higher wages and better treatment. In one incident, black street repairmen received pay for two hours when they were sent home because of bad weather, but white employees were paid for the full day.<ref name=AFSCME-WEB1>{{cite web|title=1,300 Members Participate in Memphis Garbage Strike|publisher=[[AFSCME]]|month=February|year=1968|url=http://www.afscme.org/about/1529.cfm|accessdate=2006-12-23}}</ref><ref name=AFSCME-WEB2>{{cite web|title=Memphis Strikers Stand Firm|publisher=[[AFSCME]]|month=March|year=1968|url =http://www.afscme.org/about/1532.cfm|accessdate=2006-12-23}} See also: {{cite book|title=Weary Feet, Rested Souls: A Guided History of the Civil Rights Movement|last=Davis|first=Townsend|pages=364|isbn=0393318192|publisher=W.W. Norton & Company|date=1998}}</ref>
On [[April 3]], King addressed a rally and delivered his "[[I've been to the Mountaintop]]" address at [[Mason Temple]], the World Headquarters of the Church of God in Christ. King's flight to Memphis had been delayed by a bomb threat against his plane.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.newsweek.com/id/69542/page/2|title=The Worst Week of 1968, Page 2|publisher=Newsweek|accessdate=2008-06-10|date=2007-11-19|last=Thomas|first=Evan}}</ref> In the close of the last speech of his career, in reference to the bomb threat, King said the following:
<blockquote>And then I got to Memphis. And some began to say the threats, or talk about the threats that were out. What would happen to me from some of our sick white brothers?
Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn't matter with me now. Because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And 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.<ref>{{cite book|last=Montefiore|first=Simon Sebag|pages=155|publisher=Quercus|date=2006|isbn=1905204167|title=Speeches that Changed the World: The Stories and Transcripts of the Moments that Made History}}</ref></blockquote>
King was booked in room 306 at the [[Lorraine Motel]], owned by Walter Bailey, in Memphis. The [[Ralph Abernathy|Reverend Ralph Abernathy]], King's close friend and colleague who was present at the assassination, swore under oath to the [[HSCA]] that King and his entourage stayed at room 306 at the Lorraine Motel so often it was known as the 'King-Abernathy suite.'<ref name="usdoj">{{cite web|title =United States Department of Justice Investigation of Recent Allegations Regarding the Assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr – VII. King V. Jowers Conspiracy Allegations|publisher=[[United States Department of Justice]]|date=June 2000|url=http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/crim/mlk/part6.htm|accessdate=2007-07-21}}</ref> King was shot at 6:01 p.m. [[April 4]] [[1968]] while he was standing on the motel's second floor balcony. The bullet entered through his right cheek smashing his jaw and then traveling down his spinal cord before lodging in his shoulder.<ref name="CHI">{{cite book|last=Garner|first=Joe|pages=62|coauthors=Walter Cronkite; Bill Kurtis|publisher=Sourcebooks, Inc.|date=2002|isbn=1570719748|title=We Interrupt this Broadcast: The Events that Stopped Our Lives...from the Hindenburg Explosion to the Attacks of September 11}} See also: {{cite book|title=An Act of State: The Execution of Martin Luther King |last=Pepper|first=William|pages=159|date=2003|publisher=Verso|isbn=1859846955}}</ref> According to [[Jesse Jackson]], who was present, King's last words on the balcony were to musician Ben Branch, who was scheduled to perform that night at an event King was attending: "Ben, make sure you play [[Take My Hand, Precious Lord]] in the meeting tonight. Play it real pretty."<ref>{{cite web|title=40 years after King's death, Jackson hails first steps into promised land|last=Pilkington|first=Ed|date=2008-04-03|accessdaste=2008-06-11|publisher=The Guardian|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/apr/03/usa.race}}</ref> Abernathy heard the shot from inside the motel room and ran to the balcony to find King on the floor.<ref>{{cite book|title=Martin Luther King Jr|publisher=Longman|date=2005|isbn=0582414318|pages=181|last=Kirk|first=John A.}}</ref> The events following the shooting have been disputed, as some people have accused Jackson of exaggerating his response.<ref>{{cite web|title=Koch Says Jackson Lied About Actions After Dr. King Was Slain|date=1988-04-18|last=Purnick|first=Joyce|accessdate=2008-06-11|publisher=The New York Times|url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940DEED7133EF93BA25757C0A96E948260}}</ref>
After emergency surgery, King was pronounced dead at St. Joseph's Hospital at 7:05 p.m.<ref>{{cite book|title= House Divided: The Life and Legacy of Martin Luther King|pages=48|last=Lokos|first=Lionel|publisher=Arlington House|date=1968}}</ref> The assassination led to a nationwide wave of [[Mass racial violence in the United States|riots]] in more than 100 cities.<ref name=BBC>{{cite news|title=1968: Martin Luther King shot dead|work=On this Day|publisher=[[BBC]]|date=2006|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/4/newsid_2453000/2453987.stm|accessdate=2006-09-17}}</ref>
President Lyndon B. Johnson declared April 7 a national day of mourning for the lost civil rights leader.<ref>{{cite book|title=Martin Luther King Jr: Dreaming of Equality|last=Manheimer|first=Ann S.|pages=97|isbn=1575056275|date=2004|publisher=Twenty-First Century Books}}</ref> Vice-President [[Hubert Humphrey]] attended King's funeral on behalf of Lyndon B. Johnson, as there were fears that Johnson's presence might incite protests and perhaps violence.<ref>{{cite book|pages=169|last=Dickerson|first=James|publisher=M.E. Sharpe|date=1998|isbn=0765603403|title=Dixie's Dirty Secret: The True Story of how the Government, the Media, and the Mob Conspired to Combat Immigration and the Vietnam Antiwar Movement}}</ref> At his widow's request, King's last sermon at Ebenezer Baptist Church was played at the funeral.<ref>{{cite book|title=The American Book of Days|last=Hatch|first=Jane M.|coauthors=George William Douglas|publisher=Wilson|date=1978|pages=321}}</ref> It was a recording of his "Drum Major" sermon, given on [[February 4]] [[1968]]. In that sermon, King made a request that at his funeral no mention of his awards and honors be made, but that it be said that he tried to "feed the hungry", "clothe the naked", "be right on the [Vietnam] war question", and "love and serve humanity".<ref>{{cite book|title=Dream: The Words and Inspiration of Martin Luther King, Jr.|last=King, Jr.|first=Martin Luther|pages=26|publisher=Blue Mountain Arts, Inc.|date=2007|isbn=1598422405}}</ref> His good friend [[Mahalia Jackson]] sang his favorite hymn, "Take My hand, Precious Lord", at the funeral.<ref>{{cite book|title=A Change is Gonna Come: Music, Race & the Soul of America|last=Werner|first=Craig|pages=9|isbn=0472031473|publisher=University of Michigan Press|date=2006}}</ref>
According to biographer [[Taylor Branch]], King's autopsy revealed that though he was only thirty-nine years old, he had the heart of a sixty-year-old man, evidencing the stress of thirteen years in the civil rights movement.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/mlk/filmmore/pt.html|title=Citizen King Transcript |publisher=PBS|accessdate=2008-06-12}}</ref>
After the assassination, the city of Memphis quickly settled the strike on terms favorable to the sanitation workers.<ref name=AFSCME-WEB3>{{cite web|title=AFSCME Wins in Memphis|publisher=[[AFSCME]] ''The Public Employee'' April 1968|url=http://www.afscme.org/about/1533.cfm|accessdate=2006-12-23}}</ref><ref name=AFSCME-WEB4>{{cite web|title=1968 Memphis Sanitation Workers' Strike Chronology|publisher=[[AFSCME]]|url=http://www.afscme.org/about/1548.cfm|accessdate=2006-12-23}}</ref>
Two months after King's death, escaped convict [[James Earl Ray]] was captured at [[London Heathrow Airport]] while trying to leave the [[United Kingdom]] on a false [[Canada|Canadian]] passport in the name of Ramon George Sneyd.<ref>{{cite book|title=Martin Luther King, Jr.|last=Ling|first=Peter J.|pages=296|publisher=Routledge|date=2002|isbn=0415216648}}</ref> Ray was quickly extradited to Tennessee and charged with King's [[murder]]. He confessed to the assassination on [[March 10]] [[1969]], though he recanted this confession three days later.<ref name=extradite>{{cite book|last=Flowers|first=R. Barri|coauthors=H. Loraine Flowers|pages=38|title=Murders in the United States: Crimes, Killers And Victims Of The Twentieth Century|publisher=McFarland|date=2004|isbn=0786420758}}</ref>
On the advice of his attorney [[Percy Foreman]], Ray took a guilty plea to avoid a trial conviction and thus the possibility of receiving the death penalty. Ray was sentenced to a 99-year prison term.<ref name=extradite/><ref name=cbs>{{cite web|title=James Earl Ray Dead At 70|date=1998-04-23|publisher=CBS|url=http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/1998/04/23/national/main7900.shtml|accessdate=2008-06-12}}</ref> Ray fired Foreman as his attorney (from then on derisively calling him "Percy Fourflusher").<ref>{{cite book|last=Clarke|first=James W.|pages=297|title=Defining Danger: American Assassins And the New Domestic Terrorists|publisher=Transaction Publishers|isbn=0765802899}}</ref> He claimed that a man he met in [[Montreal]], [[Quebec]] with the alias "Raoul" was involved and that the assassination was the result of a conspiracy.<ref>{{cite book|pages=17|author=House Select Committee on Assassinations|title=Compilation of the Statements of James Earl Ray: Staff Report|publisher=The Minerva Group, Inc.|isbn=0898752973|date=2001}}</ref><ref name=davis>{{cite book|title=Assassination: 20 Assassinations that Changed the World|pages=105|last=Davis|first=Lee|date=1995|publisher=JG Press|isbn=1-57215-235-4}}</ref> He spent the remainder of his life attempting (unsuccessfully) to withdraw his guilty plea and secure the trial he never had.<ref name=cbs/> On [[June 10]] [[1977]], shortly after Ray had testified to the House Select Committee on Assassinations that he did not shoot King, he and six other convicts escaped from [[Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary]] in [[Petros, Tennessee]]. They were recaptured on [[June 13]] and returned to prison.<ref name=FBI>{{cite web|title=History of the Knoxville Office|publisher=[[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]]|url=http://knoxville.fbi.gov/hist.htm|accessdate=2006-09-17}}</ref>
===Allegations of conspiracy===
Ray's lawyers maintained he was a "[[Scapegoat|patsy]]"<ref name=CNN1>{{cite news|title=From small-time criminal to notorious assassin|publisher=[[CNN]]|url=http://edition.cnn.com/US/9804/03/james.ray.profile/index.html|accessdate=2006-09-17}}</ref> similar to the way that alleged [[John F. Kennedy]] assassin [[Lee Harvey Oswald]] was supposed to have been. One of the claims used to support this assertion is that Ray's confession was given under pressure, and he had been threatened with the death penalty.<ref name=cbs/><ref>{{cite book|title=Conspiracy Theories in American History: An Encyclopedia|last=Knight|first=Peter|pages=402|isbn=1576078124|publisher=ABC-CLIO}}</ref> Ray was a thief and burglar, but he had no record of committing violent crimes with a weapon.<ref name=davis/>
Those suspecting a conspiracy in the assassination point out the two separate ballistic tests conducted on the Remington Gamemaster recovered by police had neither conclusively proved Ray had been the killer nor that it had even been the murder weapon.<ref name=cbs/><ref name=BBC-WEB1>{{cite news|title=Questions left hanging by James Earl Ray's death|publisher=[[BBC]]|date=1998-04-23|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/82893.stm|accessdate=2006-12-23}}</ref> Moreover, witnesses surrounding King at the moment of his death say the shot came from another location, from behind thick shrubbery near the rooming house - which had been inexplicably cut away in the days following the assassination, and not from the rooming house window.<ref name=Gerold>{{cite book|pages=283|last=Frank|first=Gerold|date=1972|publisher=Doubleday|title=An American Death: The True Story of the Assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Greatest Manhunt of our Time}}</ref>
[[Image:MLK tomb.JPG|thumb|250px|Martin Luther King's original tomb, located on the grounds of the [[Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site|King Center]]]]
[[Image:Martin Luther King Jr Coretta Scott King Tomb.jpg.jpg|thumb|250px|Martin Luther King's & Coretta Scott King's tomb, located on the grounds of the [[Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site|King Center]]]]
===Developments===
In 1997, King's son [[Dexter Scott King|Dexter King]] met with Ray, and publicly supported Ray's efforts to obtain a [[retrial]].<ref name=CNN2>{{cite news|title=James Earl Ray, convicted King assassin, dies|publisher=[[CNN]]|date=1998-04-23|url=http://edition.cnn.com/US/9804/23/ray.obit/#2|accessdate=2006-09-17}}</ref> Two years later, [[Coretta Scott King]], King's widow, along with the rest of King's family, won a [[Wrongful death claim|wrongful death]] [[civil trial]] against [[Loyd Jowers]] and "other unknown co-conspirators". Jowers claimed to have received $100,000 to arrange King's assassination. The jury of six whites and six blacks found Jowers guilty and that government agencies were party to the assassination.<ref>{{cite web|title=Trial Transcript Volume XIV|publisher=The King Center|url=http://www.thekingcenter.org/tkc/trial/Volume14.html|accessdate=2007-03-24}}</ref> [[William F. Pepper]] represented the King family in the trial.<ref>{{cite book|title=Contemporary Controversies and the American Racial Divide|pages=97|last=Smith|first=Robert Charles|coauthors=Richard Seltzer|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|date=2000|isbn=074250025X}}</ref> King biographer [[David Garrow]] disagrees with William F. Pepper's claims that the government killed King.<ref>{{cite book|title=An Act of State: The Execution of Martin Luther King|last=Pepper|first=William|pages=182|publisher=Verso|date=2003|isbn=1859846955}}</ref> He is supported by author [[Gerald Posner]] who has researched and written about the assassination.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Civil Rights Revolution: Events and Leaders, 1955-1968|last=Sargent|first=Frederic O.|pages=129|publisher=McFarland|date=2004|isbn=0786419148}}</ref>
In 2000, the [[United States Department of Justice|Department of Justice]] completed the investigation about Jowers' claims but did not find evidence to support allegations about conspiracy. The investigation report recommended no further investigation unless some new reliable facts are presented.<ref name=USDOJ>{{cite web|title=United States Department of Justice Investigation of Recent Allegations Regarding the Assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.|publisher=[[United States Department of Justice|USDOJ]]|url=http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/crim/mlk/part2.htm#over|accessdate=2006-09-18}}</ref> The ''[[The New York Times|New York Times]]'' reported a church minister, Rev. Ronald Denton Wilson, claimed his father, Henry Clay Wilson — not James Earl Ray — assassinated Martin Luther King, Jr. He stated, "It wasn't a racist thing; he thought Martin Luther King was connected with communism, and he wanted to get him out of the way."<ref name=SMH>{{cite news|last=Canedy|first=Dana|title=My father killed King, says pastor, 34 years on|publisher=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]]|date=2002-04-06|url=http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/04/06/1017206269495.html|accessdate=2006-09-18}}</ref>
King's friend and colleague, James Bevel, disputed the argument that Ray acted alone, stating, "There is no way a ten-cent white boy could develop a plan to kill a million-dollar black man."<ref>{{cite book|last=Branch|first=Taylor|title=At Canaan's Edge: America in the King Years, 1965-68|publisher=Simon & Schuster|date=2006|isbn=978-0-684-85712-1|pages=770}}</ref> In 2004, [[Jesse Jackson]], who was with King at the time of his death, noted:
<blockquote>The fact is there were saboteurs to disrupt the march. [And] within our own organization, we found a very key person who was on the government payroll. So infiltration within, saboteurs from without and the press attacks. …I will never believe that James Earl Ray had the motive, the money and the mobility to have done it himself. Our government was very involved in setting the stage for and I think the escape route for James Earl Ray.<ref name=Demo>{{cite news|last=Goodman|first=Amy|coauthors=Juan Gonzalez|title=Jesse Jackson On "Mad Dean Disease," the 2000 Elections and Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King|publisher=[[Democracy Now!]]|date=2004-01-15|url=http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/01/15/1710221&mode=thread&tid=25|accessdate=2006-09-18}}</ref></blockquote>
==FBI==
King had a mutually antagonistic relationship with the FBI, especially its director, [[J. Edgar Hoover]].<ref>{{cite book|title=To See the Promised Land: The Faith Pilgrimage of Martin Luther King, Jr|pages=246-247|last=Downing|first=Frederick L.|publisher=Mercer University Press|date=1986|isbn=0865542074}}</ref> The FBI began tracking King and the SCLC in 1957;<ref>{{cite book|title=The FBI: A Comprehensive Reference Guide|last=Theoharis|first=Athan G.|coauthors=Tony G. Poveda; Richard Gid Powers; Susan Rosenfeld|pages=123|isbn=089774991X|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|date=1999}}</ref> its investigations were largely superficial until 1962, when it learned that one of King's most trusted advisers was New York City lawyer [[Stanley Levison]]. The FBI found Levison had been involved with the [[Communist Party USA]];<ref>{{cite book|last=Kotz|first=Nick|pages=233|isbn=0618088253|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Books|date=2005|title=Judgment Days: Lyndon Baines Johnson, Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Laws that Changed America}}</ref> it has been reported, however, had that Levison ended his affiliation with the Communist Party in the years after his conviction.<ref>http://stanford.edu/group/King/about_king/encyclopedia/levison_stanley.htm</ref> Another King lieutenant, [[Hunter Pitts O'Dell]], was also linked to the Communist Party by sworn testimony before the [[House Un-American Activities Committee]] (HUAC).<ref>{{cite book|last=Woods|first=Jeff|pages=126|date=2004|publisher=LSU Press|isbn=0807129267|title=Black Struggle, Red Scare: Segregation and Anti-communism in the South, 1948-1968}} See also: {{cite book|pages=87|title=The Real J. Edgar Hoover: For the Record|last=Wannall|first=Ray|isbn=1563115530|date=2000|publisher=Turner Publishing Company}}</ref> The Bureau placed wiretaps on Levison's and King's home and office phones, and bugged King's rooms in hotels as he traveled across the country.<ref name=right>{{cite web|title=JFK and RFK Were Right to Wiretap MLK|last=Ryskind|first=Allan H.|url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3827/is_200602/ai_n17173432/pg_2|accessdate=2008-06-14|publisher=Human Events|date=2006-02-27}}</ref><ref name=track>{{cite web|publisher=CNN|title=FBI tracked King's every move|date=2008-04-07|first=Jen|last=Christensen|acceessdate=2008-06-14|url=http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/03/31/mlk.fbi.conspiracy/index.html}}</ref> The Bureau also informed Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and President John F. Kennedy, both of whom unsuccessfully tried to persuade King to dissociate himself from Levison.<ref name=right/> For his part, King adamantly denied having any connections to Communism, stating in a 1965 ''Playboy'' interview that "there are as many Communists in this freedom movement as there are [[Eskimo]]s in [[Florida]]";<ref>{{cite book|title=A Testament of Hope: The Esential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr.|last=Washington|first=James M.|date=1991|publisher=HarperCollins|isbn=0-06-064691-8|pages=362}}</ref> Hoover did not believe the statement and replied by saying that King was "the most notorious liar in the country."<ref>{{cite book|title=Martin Luther King, Jr.: A Biography|last=Bruns|first=Roger|pages=67|isbn=0313336865|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|date=2006}}</ref> After King gave his "I Have A Dream" speech during the March on Washington on [[August 28]], [[1963]], the FBI described King as "the most dangerous and effective Negro leader in the country".<ref name=track />
The attempt to prove that King was a Communist was in keeping with the feeling of many segregationists that blacks in the South were happy with their lot but had been stirred up by "communists" and "outside agitators".<ref>{{cite book|title=Democratic Individuality: A Theory of Moral Progress|pages=435|last=Gilbert|first=Alan|publisher=Cambridge University Press|date=1990|isbn=0521387094}}</ref> Lawyer-advisor Stanley D. Levison did have ties with the Communist Party in various business dealings, but the FBI refused to believe its own intelligence bureau reports that Levison was no longer associated in that capacity.<ref>{{cite book|title=Martin Luther King Jr: Dreaming of Equality|last=Manheimer|first=Ann S.|pages=50|date=2004|publisher=Twenty-First Century Books|isbn=1575056275}}</ref> In response to the FBI's comments regarding communists directing the civil rights movement, King said that "the Negro revolution is a genuine revolution, born from the same womb that produces all massive social upheavals—the womb of intolerable conditions and unendurable situations."<ref>{{cite book|title=A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr.|last=Washington|first=James M.|date=1991|publisher=HarperCollins|isbn=0-06-064691-8|pages=363}}</ref>
Later, the focus of the Bureau's investigations shifted to attempting to discredit King through revelations regarding his private life. FBI surveillance of King, some of it since made public, attempted to demonstrate that he also engaged in numerous extramarital affairs.<ref name=track/> Further remarks on King's lifestyle were made by several prominent officials, such as President Johnson who once said that King was a “hypocritical preacher”.<ref>{{cite web|title=L.B.J., Hoover and Domestic Spying|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,912799-2,00.html|publisher=Time|last=Sidey|first=Hugh|accessdate=2008-06-14|date=1975-02-10}}</ref> One incident that caught the FBI's attention was purported recording of a sexual encounter that took place at a 1964 party King was attending at the Willard Hotel in Washington D.C.<ref name=track/> The FBI presumed it was King who they heard engaged in a sexual encounter.<ref name="tracker2">http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/03/31/mlk.fbi.conspiracy/index.html#cnnSTCVideo,</ref> [[Ralph Abernathy]], a close associate of King's, stated in 1989 that King was a womanizer.<ref>{{citebook|title=And The Walls Came Tumbling Down|publisher=Harper & Row|year=1989}}</ref> In a later interview, Abernathy said he only wrote the term "womanizing", and did not specifically say King had extramarital sex.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.booknotes.org/Transcript/index_print.asp?ProgramID=1442|title=''And the Walls Came Tumbling Down'' by Rev. Ralph David Abernathy|publisher=Booknotes|date=1989-10-29|accessdate=2008-06-14}}</ref> Arguments that King possibly engaged in sexual affairs have been detailed by history professor [[David Garrow]].<ref>{{citebook|title=Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference|year=1986|publisher=William Morrow & Company}} See also: {{cite web|title=The humanity of Martin Luther King, Jr.: Vigilance in pursuing his dream|url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa4044/is_200304/ai_n9232227|last=Burrow, Jr.|first=Rufus|publisher=Encounter|date=Spring 2003|accessdate=2008-06-14}}</ref>
The FBI distributed reports regarding such affairs to the executive branch, friendly reporters, potential coalition partners and funding sources of the SCLC, and King's family.<ref>{{cite book|title=Conspiracy Encyclopedia|last=Burnett|first=Thom|isbn=1843402874|publisher=Collins & Brown|date=2005|pages=58}}</ref> The Bureau also sent anonymous letters to King threatening to reveal information if he did not cease his civil rights work.<ref>{{cite book|pages=532|last=Thragens|first=William C.|title=Popular Images of American Presidents|isbn=031322899X|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|date=1988}}</ref> One anonymous letter sent to King just before he received the Nobel Peace Prize read, in part, "The American public, the church organizations that have been helping—Protestants, Catholics and Jews will know you for what you are—an evil beast. So will others who have backed you. You are done. King, there, is only one thing left for you to do. You know what it is. You have just 34 days in which to do (this exact number has been selected for a specific reason, it has definite practical significant [sic]). You are done. There is but one way out for you. You better take it before your filthy fraudulent self is bared to the nation."<ref>{{cite book|last=Kotz|first=Nick|pages=247|isbn=0618088253|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Books|date=2005|title=Judgment Days: Lyndon Baines Johnson, Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Laws that Changed America}}</ref> King interpreted this as encouragement for him to commit suicide,<ref>{{cite book|pages=466|last=Wilson|first=Sondra K.|publisher=Oxford University Press US|date=1999|isbn=019511633X|title=In Search of Democracy: The NAACP Writings of James Weldon Johnson, Walter White, and Roy Wilkins (1920-1977)}}</ref> although William Sullivan, head of the Domestic Intelligence Division at the time, argued that it may have only been intended to "convince Dr. King to resign from the SCLC."<ref name=Church>{{cite web|last=Church|first=Frank|authorlink=Frank Church|title=Church Committee Book III|work=Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Case Study|publisher=[[Church Committee]]|date=[[April 23]] [[1976]]|url=http://www.icdc.com/~paulwolf/cointelpro/churchfinalreportIIIb.htm|accessdate=2006-09-18}}</ref> King refused to give in to the FBI's threats.<ref name="tracker2" />
In [[January 31]] [[1977]], [[United States district court|United States District Judge]] John Lewis Smith, Jr., ordered all known copies of the recorded audiotapes and written transcripts resulting from the FBI's electronic surveillance of King between 1963 and 1968 to be held in the [[National Archives and Records Administration|National Archives]] and sealed from public access until 2027.<ref>{{cite web|title=Documenting the Struggle for Racial Equality in the Decade of the Sixties|publisher=The National Archives and Records Administration|url=http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/1997/summer/equality-in-the-sixties.html#f3|date=Summer 1997|last=Phillips|first=Geraldine N.|work=Prologue Magazine|accessdate=2008-06-15}}</ref>
Across from the Lorraine Motel, next to the rooming house in which James Earl Ray was staying, was a fire station. Police officers were stationed in the fire station to keep King under surveillance.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hvc-inc.com/clients/cnn/bia/featured.html|publisher=CNN|work=Black in America|title=Eyewitness to Murder: The King Assassination Featured Individuals|accessdate=2008-06-16}}</ref> Using papered-over windows with peepholes cut into them, the agents were watching the scene while Martin Luther King was shot.<ref>{{cite book|last=McKnight|first=Gerald|pages=76|title=The Last Crusade: Martin Luther King, Jr., the FBI, and the Poor People's Crusade|date=1998|isbn=0813333849|Westview Press}}</ref> Immediately following the shooting, officers rushed out of the station to the motel, and Marrell McCollough, an undercover police officer, was the first person to administer first-aid to King.<ref>{{cite book|title=Martin Luther King, Jr.: The FBI Files|pages=40-42|publisher=Filiquarian Publishing, LLC|isbn=1599862530|date=2007}} See also: {{cite web|url=http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/03/28/conspiracy.theories/index.html|title=King conspiracy theories still thrive 40 years later|last=Polk|first=James|publisher=CNN|date=2008-04-07|accessdate=2008-06-16}}</ref> The antagonism between King and the FBI, the lack of an [[all points bulletin]] to find the killer, and the police presence nearby have led to speculation that the FBI was involved in the assassination.<ref>{{cite book|pages=408-409|title=Conspiracy Theories in American History: An Encyclopedia|last=Knight|first=Peter|isbn=1576078124|publisher=ABC-CLIO}}</ref>
==Legacy==
[[Image:MLKJr KC TroostWall.PNG|right|thumb|400px|A mural in [[Kansas City, Missouri]] commemorating King's activism]]
Throughout his participation in the civil rights movement, King was criticized by many groups. This included opposition by more militant blacks and such prominent critics as [[Nation of Islam]] member [[Malcolm X]].<ref>{{cite book|pages=105|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|date=2007|isbn=0742529282|last=Bobbitt|first=David|title=The Rhetoric of Redemption: Kenneth Burke's Redemption Drama and Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" Speech}}</ref> [[Stokely Carmichael]] was a [[separatist]] and disagreed with King's plea for [[racial integration]] because he considered it an insult to a uniquely African-American culture.<ref>{{cite book|title=Martin Luther King, Jr.|last=Ling|first=Peter J.|pages=250-251|publisher=Routledge|date=2002|isbn=0415216648}}</ref> [[Omali Yeshitela]] urged Africans to remember the history of violent European [[colonization]] and how power was not secured by Europeans through integration, but by violence and force.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.apspuhuru.org/publications/repnow/ReparationsNow-OCR.txt|title=Abbreviated Report from the International Tribunal on Reparations for Black People in the U.S.|publisher=African People's Socialist Party|accessdate=2008-06-15|last=Yeshitela|first=Omali}}</ref>
[[Image:Dr. Martin Luther King Jr..jpg|thumb|200px|right|A sidewalk plaque in downtown Washington, D.C., honoring Martin Luther King Jr.]]
On the international scene, King's legacy included influences on the [[Black Consciousness Movement]] and Civil Rights Movement in South Africa.<ref>{{cite book|title=Soweto Blues: Jazz, Popular Music, and Politics in South Africa|last=Ansell|first=Gwen|pages=139|publisher=Continuum International Publishing Group|date=2005|isbn=0826417531}} See also: {{cite book|title=It Takes a Village: And Other Lessons Children Teach Us|last=Clinton|first=Hillary Rodham|pages=137|isbn=1416540644|publisher=Simon & Schuster|date=2007}}</ref> King's work was cited by and served as an inspiration for [[Albert Lutuli]], another black Nobel Peace prize winner who fought for racial justice in that country.<ref>{{cite book|pages=307-308|last=King, Jr.|first=Martin Luther|coauthors=Clayborne Carson; Peter Holloran; Ralph Luker; Penny A. Russell|title=The papers of Martin Luther King, Jr.|publisher=University of California Press|date=1992|isbn=0520079507}}</ref>
[[Image:MLKJrstatue.jpg|thumb|left|200px|A statue of King located within Ingram Park, [[Birmingham, Alabama]]]]
King's wife, [[Coretta Scott King]], followed her husband's footsteps and was active in matters of social justice and civil rights until her death in 2006. The same year that Martin Luther King was assassinated, Mrs. King established the King Center in Atlanta, Georgia, dedicated to preserving his legacy and the work of championing nonviolent conflict resolution and tolerance worldwide.<ref name=KC-WEB1>{{cite web|title=The King Center's Mission|publisher=[[Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site|The King Center]]|url=http://www.thekingcenter.org/tkc/mission.asp|accessdate=2008-06-15}}</ref> His son, Dexter King, currently serves as the center's chairman.<ref>{{cite web|title=Future of Atlanta's King Center in limbo|publisher=USA Today|last=Copeland|first=Larry|date=2006-02-01|url=http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-01-31-king-center_x.htm|accessdate=2008-06-15}} See also: {{cite web|url=http://www.thekingcenter.org/tkc/chairman.asp|title=Chairman's Message: Introduction to the King Center and its Mission|publisher=The King Center|accessdate=2008-06-15}}</ref> Daughter Yolanda King is a motivational speaker, author and founder of Higher Ground Productions, an organization specializing in diversity training.<ref>{{cite web|publisher=Higher Ground Productions|url=http://www.highergroundproductions.com/index2.htm|title=Welcome to Higher Ground Productions|accessdate=2008-06-15}}</ref>
King's name and legacy have often been invoked since his death as people have debated his likely position on various modern political issues. For example, there is some debate even within the King family as to where he would have stood on gay rights issues. King's widow Coretta said publicly that she believed her husband would have supported gay rights. His daughter Bernice believed he would have been opposed to them.<ref name=MPR-WEB1>{{cite news|last=Williams|first=Brandt|title=What would Martin Luther King do?|publisher=[[Minnesota Public Radio]]|date=2005-01-16|url=http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/2005/01/17_williamsb_wwmlkd/|accessdate=2006-12-23}}</ref> The King Center includes discrimination, and lists [[homophobia]] as one of its examples, in its list of "The Triple Evils" that should be opposed.<ref name=KC-WEB2>{{cite web|title=The Triple Evils|publisher=[[The King Center]]|url=http://www.thekingcenter.org/misc/triple_evils.htm|accessdate=2006-12-23}}</ref>
The day following King's assassination, school teacher [[Jane Elliott]] conducted her first "Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes" exercise with her class of elementary school students in [[Riceville, Iowa]]. Her purpose was to help them understand King's death as it related to [[racial discrimination]], something they little understood from having lived in a predominately white community.<ref>{{cite web|title=A Class Divided: One Friday in April, 1968|work=Frontline|publisher=PBS|last=Peters|first=William|url=http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/divided/etc/friday.html|accessdate=2008-06-15}}</ref>
[[Image:George H. W. Bush signs Martin Luther King Day Proclamation.jpg|300px|thumb|[[George H. W. Bush]] signs Martin Luther King Day Proclamation]]
In 1980, King's boyhood home in Atlanta and several other nearby buildings were declared the [[Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site]]. At the [[White House]] Rose Garden on [[November 2]] [[1983]], [[U.S. President]] [[Ronald Reagan]] signed a bill creating a federal holiday to honor King. Observed for the first time on [[January 20]] [[1986]], it is called [[Martin Luther King, Jr. Day]]. It is observed on the third Monday of January each year, near the time of King's birthday.<ref>{{cite web|title=Martin Luther King Day|publisher=U.S. Department of State|url=http://exchanges.state.gov/education/engteaching/mlkbday.htm|accessdate=2008-06-15}}</ref> In [[January 17]] [[2000]], for the first time, Martin Luther King Day was officially observed in all fifty [[U.S. state]]s.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A07E0DC1031F935A15756C0A96F958260|title=Contrarian New Hampshire To Honor Dr. King, at Last|publisher=The New York Times|last=Goldberg|first=Carey|date=1999-05-26|accessdate=2008-06-15}}</ref>
In 1996, [[Alpha Phi Alpha|Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity]] was authorized by the [[Congress of the United States|United States Congress]] to establish a foundation to manage fund raising and design of a [[Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Washington, DC Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation Breaks Ground On Historic $100 Million Memorial On The National Mall In Washington, D.C.|date=2006-11-06|accessdate=2008-06-15|publisher=Washington, DC Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation|url=http://www.mlkmemorial.org/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=hkIUL9MVJxE&b=1601407&ct=3612187}}</ref> King was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha, the first intercollegiate [[Greek alphabet|Greek-letter]] [[Fraternities and sororities|fraternity]] established for African Americans.<ref>{{cite book|title=Organizing Black America: An Encyclopedia of African American Associations|last=Mjagkij|first=Nina|pages=30|isbn=0815323093|publisher=Taylor & Francis|date=2001}}</ref> King was the first [[African American]] honored with his own memorial in the [[National Mall]] area and the first non-[[President of the United States|President]] to be commemorated in such a way.<ref>{{cite web|title=Celebrating the Birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.|publisher=U.S. Department of State|last=Tobias|first=Randall L.|url=http://www.state.gov/f/releases/remarks2007/87649.htm|date=2007-01-18}}</ref> The sculptor chosen was [[Lei Yixin]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Choice of sculptor for Martin Luther King Jr. monument draws flak|url=http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2007-08-25-mlkmemorial_N.htm|quote=The selection of a Chinese sculptor to carve a three-story monument to Martin Luther King Jr. on the National Mall is raising questions about what part of his legacy should be celebrated.|last=Evans|first=Ben|publisher=USA Today|date=2007-08-25 |accessdate=2008-06-15 }}</ref> The King Memorial will be administered by the [[National Parks Service]].<ref>{{cite web|title=History of the Memorial|accessdate=2008-06-15|publisher=Washington, DC Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation|url=http://www.mlkmemorial.org/site/c.hkIUL9MVJxE/b.1190613/k.5EE9/History_of_the_Memorial.htm}}</ref>
In spring of 2006, a stage play about King was produced in Beijing, China with King portrayed by Chinese actor, Cao Li. The play was written by [[Stanford University]] professor, Clayborne Carson.<ref>{{cite web|title=National Theatre Company of China Tours Atlanta, Birmingham, and Memphis|publisher=The Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute|url=http://www.stanford.edu/group/King/China/mlkchina/try2_files/mlkpp_data/Touring_Atlanta_text.htm|accessdate=2008-06-15|date=2007-02-06}} See also: {{cite web|url=http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11330396 NPR:|title=Martin Luther King's Story Plays on Beijing Stage|publisher=National Public Radio|accessdate=2008-06-15|last=Kuhn|first=Anthony|last=2007-06-23}}</ref>
==Awards and recognition==
{{Infobox Saint
|name=Martin Luther King Jr.
|birth_date=
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|feast_day=15 January (Lutheran)<ref>{{cite web|title=News & Events — January 2008|publisher=St. Thomas Evangelical Lutheran Church|url=http://www.stlconline.org/archive/200801.html|accessdate=2008-06-15}}</ref> and 4 April (Episcopal)<ref>{{cite web|title=What it Takes to Become a Saint|publisher=The Morgan Hill Times|last=Flagg|first=Chuck|date=2006-02-10|accessdate=2008-06-15|url=http://www.morganhilltimes.com/lifestyles/178715-what-it-takes-to-become-a-saint}}</ref>
|venerated_in=[[Calendar of saints (Episcopal Church in the United States of America)|Episcopal Church in the United States of America]] and [[Calendar of Saints (Lutheran)|Evangelical Lutheran Church in America]]
|image=Westminster Abbey C20th martyrs.jpg
|imagesize=250px
|caption=From the Gallery of 20th century martyrs above the Great West Door of [[Westminster Abbey]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Raised on High|work=Footlights|publisher=The New York Times|date=1997-10-29|url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9802E4DE1231F93AA15753C1A961958260|accessdate=2008-06-15}}</ref> Four of the ten from left to right– [[Grand Duchess Elizabeth Fyodorovna|Mother Elizabeth]] of Russia, Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., Archbishop [[Oscar Romero]], and Pastor [[Dietrich Bonhoeffer]]
|birth_place=
|death_place=
|titles=Civil Rights Leader, Renewer of Society, Martyr
|beatified_date=
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|issues=[[Racial Equality]], [[Civil Rights]]
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Besides winning the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize,<ref name=merv/><ref>{{citeweb|url=http://nobelprize.org/peace/laureates/1964/index.html|title=Winner of the 1964 Nobel Prize in Peace|publisher=Nobel Prize Committee|accessdate=2008-06-21}}</ref> in 1965 King was awarded the American Liberties Medallion by the [[American Jewish Committee]] for his "exceptional advancement of the principles of human liberty".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ajc.org/site/apps/nl/content3.asp?c=ijITI2PHKoG&b=843719&ct=1052921|publisher=American Jewish Committee|title=Commemorating Martin Luther King, Jr.: Presentation of American Liberties Medallion|last=Engel|first=Irving M.|accessdate=2008-06-13}}</ref> Reverend King said in his acceptance remarks, "Freedom is one thing. You have it all or you are not free".<ref>{{cite web|title=Commemorating Martin Luther King, Jr.: Response to Award of American Liberties Medallion|last=King, Jr.|first=Martin Luther|publisher=American Jewish Committee|url=http://www.ajc.org/site/apps/nl/content3.asp?c=ijITI2PHKoG&b=843719&ct=1052923|accessdate=2008-06-13}}</ref> Also in 1965, King was awarded the [[Pacem in Terris Award]]. It was named after a 1963 encyclical letter by [[Pope John XXIII]] calling for all people to strive for peace.<ref>{{cite web|title=Habitat co-founder to receive Pacem in Terris award tonight|date=2005-10-23|accessdate=2008-06-13|url=http://www.qctimes.com/articles/2005/10/23/news/local/doc435b0e9c484dc514864978.txt|publisher=Quad-City Times}}</ref> [[Pacem in Terris]] is [[Latin]] for 'Peace on Earth.'<ref>{{cite book|pages=3|author=Pope John XXII|publisher=Paulist Press|date=1963|title=Pacem in Terris: Peace on Earth; Encyclical Letter of His Holiness Pope John XXII}}</ref>
In 1966, the Planned Parenthood Federation of America awarded King the [[Margaret Sanger]] Award for "his courageous resistance to bigotry and his lifelong dedication to the advancement of social justice and human dignity."<ref name=PP>{{cite web|title=The Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. upon accepting The Planned Parenthood Federation Of America Margaret Sanger Award|publisher=[[Planned Parenthood|PPFA]]|url=http://www.plannedparenthood.org/about-us/who-we-are/the-reverend-martin-luther-king-jr.htm|accessdate=2006-09-18}}</ref> King was also posthumously awarded [[Marcus Garvey|The Marcus Garvey Prize for Human Rights]] by the [[Jamaica|Jamaican Government]] in 1968.<ref name=kingcenterbio/>
In 1971, King was posthumously awarded the [[Grammy Award]] for [[Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album|Best Spoken Word Recording]] for his ''Why I Oppose the War in Vietnam''.<ref>{{cite book|pages=1251|title=Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience|last=Gates|first=Henry Louis|coauthors=Anthony Appiah|publisher=Basic Civitas Books|isbn=0465000711|date=1999|pages=1348}}</ref> Six years later, in 1977, the [[Presidential Medal of Freedom]] was awarded posthumously to King by [[Jimmy Carter]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipient Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.|publisher=The Official Site of the Presidential Medal of Freedom|accessdate=2008-06-13|url=http://www.medaloffreedom.com/MartinLutherKingJr.htm}}</ref> King and his wife were also awarded the [[Congressional Gold Medal]] in 2004.<ref>{{cite web|title=Congressional Gold Medal Recipients (1776 to Present)|publisher=Office of the Clerk: U.S. House of Representatives|url=http://clerk.house.gov/art_history/house_history/goldMedal.html|accessdate=2008-06-16}}</ref>
King is the [[Gallup's List of Widely Admired People|second most admired person in the 20th century]], according to a [[Gallup poll]].<ref>{{cite book|title=The Gallup Poll: Public Opinion 1999|last=Gallup|first=George|coauthors=Alec Gallup, Jr.|pages=249|isbn=0842026991|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|date=2000}}</ref> In 2000, King was voted sixth in the Person of the Century poll by ''[[Time (magazine)|TIME]]''.<ref name=Time-WEB1>{{cite news|title=The Person of the Century Poll Results|publisher=[[Time magazine|Time]]|date=2000-01-19|url=http://www.time.com/time/time100/poc/century.html|accessdate=2006-12-23}}</ref> Moreover, King was elected the third [[Greatest American]] of all time by the American public in a contest conducted by the [[Discovery Channel]] and [[America Online|AOL]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Reagan voted 'greatest American'|date=2005-06-28|accessdate=2008-06-13|publisher=BBC|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4631421.stm}}</ref>
More than 730 cities in the United States have [[Streets named after Martin Luther King, Jr.|streets named after King]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://personal.ecu.edu/aldermand/pubs/alderman_chapter.pdf|last=Alderman|first=Derek H.|title=Naming Streets for Martin Luther King, Jr.: No Easy Road|work=Landscape and Race in the United States|publisher=Routledge Press}}</ref> [[King County, Washington]] rededicated its name in his honor in 1986,<ref>{{cite web|title=King County Was Rededicated For Mlk|publisher=The Seattle Times|accessdate=2008-06-13|date=1998-01-18|url=http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19980118&slug=2729257}}</ref> and changed its logo to an image of his face in 2007.<ref>{{cite web|title=New logo is an image of civil rights leader|publisher=King County|url=http://www.kingcounty.gov/operations/logo.aspx|accessdate=2008-06-13}}</ref> The city government center in [[Harrisburg, Pennsylvania]], is the only [[city hall]] in the United States to be named in honor of King.<ref>{{cite web|title=Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Essay Competition Winners Announced|publisher=City of Harrisburg|url=http://www.harrisburgpa.gov/pressReleases/prArchives/2003/01/20030119_mlkEssay.html|date=2003-01-19|accessdate=2008-06-13}}</ref>
King was awarded at least fifty [[honorary degree]]s from various colleges and universities in the United States and several foreign countries.<ref name=merv>{{cite book|title=King Came Preaching: The Pulpit Power of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.|pages=79|last=Warren|first=Mervyn A.|isbn=0830826580|date=2001|publisher=InterVarsity Press}}</ref><ref name=kingcenterbio>{{cite web|title=Biographical Outline of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.|publisher=The King Center|url=http://www.thekingcenter.org/mlk/bio.html|accessdate=2008-06-08}}</ref>
{{-}}
== Notes ==
{{reflist|3}}
== References ==
{{Refbegin}}
* [[Ralph Abernathy|Abernathy, Ralph]]. ''And the Walls Came Tumbling Down: An Autobiography''. New York: Harper & Row, 1989. ISBN 0-06-016192-2
* Ayton, Mel. ''A Racial Crime: James Earl Ray And The Murder Of Martin Luther King Jr.'' Las Vegas: Archebooks Publishing, 2005. ISBN 1-59507-075-3
* [[David T. Beito|Beito, David]], and [[Linda Royster Beito|Beito, Linda Royster]]. "T.R.M. Howard: Pragmatism over Strict Integrationist Ideology in the Mississippi Delta, 1942–1954" in Glenn Feldman, ed. ''Before Brown: Civil Rights and White Backlash in the Modern South''. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2004, 68–95. ISBN 0-8173-5134-5
* [[Taylor Branch|Branch, Taylor]]. ''At Canaan's Edge: America In the King Years, 1965–1968''. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2006. ISBN 0-684-85712-X
* Branch, Taylor. ''Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, 1954–1963''. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1988. ISBN 0-671-46097-8
* Branch, Taylor. ''Pillar of Fire: America in the King Years, 1963–1965''. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1998. ISBN 0-684-80819-6
* Chernus, Ira. ''American Nonviolence: The History of an Idea'', chapter 11. ISBN 1-57075-547-7
* [[David Garrow|Garrow, David J]]. ''The FBI and Martin Luther King, Jr.'' New York: Penguin Books, 1981. ISBN 0-14-006486-9
* Jackson, Thomas F., ''From Civil Rights to Human Rights: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Struggle for Economic Justice''. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2006. ISBN 978-0-8122-3969-0
* [[Coretta Scott King|King, Coretta Scott]]. ''My Life with Martin Luther King, Jr.'' New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1969.
* Kirk, John A., ''Martin Luther King, Jr.'' London: Pearson Longman, 2005. ISBN 0-582-41431-8
* Lindgren, Carl Edwin. "Tour Resurrects Shantytown Art". ''Southern Exposure'', Vol. XX, No. 1 (Spring, 1992): 7. Information relating to Resurrection City and Martin Luther King.
{{Refend}}
== Books ==
'''Works by King'''
*''Stride toward freedom; the Montgomery story'' (1958)
*''The Measure of a Man'' (1959)
*''Strength to Love'' (1963)
*''Why We Can't Wait'' (1964)
*''Where do we go from here: Chaos or community?'' (1967)
*''The Trumpet of Conscience'' (1968)
*''A Testament of Hope : The Essential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr.'' (1986)
*''The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr.'' by Martin Luther King Jr. (1998) edited by Clayborne Carson
'''Other works'''
*''Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference'' by David Garrow (1989)
*''King Remembered'' ''by Flip Schulke and Penelope McPhee'' ''Foreword by Jesse Jackson'' (1986)
*''Judgment Days: Lyndon Baines Johnson, Martin Luther King Jr., and the Laws that Changed America'' by [[Nick Kotz]] (2005)
==External links==
{{sisterlinks|Martin Luther King, Jr.}}
*{{worldcat id|id=lccn-n79-84324}}
*{{gutenberg author|id=Martin+Luther+Jr.+King|name=Martin Luther King, Jr.}}
*[http://www.thekingcenter.org/ The King Center]
*[http://www.civilrightsmuseum.org/ National Civil Rights Museum]
*[http://www.politicalassassinations.com Coalition on Political Assassinations] Research and lobby group that also organize a conference on his assassination
*[http://www.africanaonline.com/civil_rights.htm Biography of MLK and links to other articles]
*[http://www.time.com/time/photoessays/2006/martin_luther_king/ Photo Essay: The Last Days of Martin Luther King Jr.] Life and death recalled in images on Time.com
*[http://www.stanford.edu/group/King/ The Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers Project]
*[http://www.mlkonline.net MLK Online] Speeches, Pictures, Quotes, Biography, Videos, Information on MLK Day
*[http://www.cceia.org/resources/articles_papers_reports/4960.html Martin Luther King Jr.'s "A New Sense of Direction (1968)" article]
*[http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/crim/mlk/part1.htm Department of Justice investigation on assassination]
*[http://manhattan.about.com/od/famousnewyorkers/a/mlknewyork.htm/ King in New York]
*[http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/martin-luther-king-index.html Permanent section of ''Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' on King's life]
*[http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/mlk/ The Seattle Times: Martin Luther King Jr.]
*[http://usliberals.about.com/od/patriotactcivilrights/a/MLKWords.htm About.com's Lesser Known Wise and Prophetic Words of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.]
*[http://www.writespirit.net/inspirational_talks/political/martin_luther_king_talks/ Speeches of Martin Luther King]
*[http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=2269 "The MLK you don't see on TV" from FAIR]
*[http://www.ep.tc/mlk/ 1956 Comic Book: ''Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story'']
*[http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-1009&sug=y New Georgia Encyclopedia Short Biography by Kirk, John A.]
*[http://foia.fbi.gov/foiaindex/king.htm King's FBI file]
*[http://www.oilempire.us/cointelpro.html Declassified document - FBI's letter urging him to commit suicide]
*Dyson, Michael Eric. [http://www.lipmagazine.org/articles/featdyson_mlk.shtml No Small Dreams: The Radical Evolution of MLK's Last Years]. ''[[LiP Magazine]]'', January 2003
*Wise, Tim. [http://www.lipmagazine.org/articles/featwise_mlk.shtml Misreading the Dream: The Truth About Martin Luther King Jr. and Affirmative Action]. [[LiP Magazine]], January 2003
*[http://www.famousplagiarists.com/theologyandreligion.htm#mlk Summary of plagiarism controversy]
*[http://register.shelby.tn.us/mlk/ Shelby County Register of Deeds documents on the Assassination Investigation]
*[http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/mlk/sfeature/sf_video_pop_02_tr_qry.html Transcript of interview with Dr. Kenneth Clark]
*[http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/133SEMO/133selma.htm ''The Selma to Montgomery Voting Rights March: Shaking the Conscience of the Nation''] National Park Service lesson plan
'''Video and audio material'''
*[http://www.mlkonline.net/video.html Full streaming video speeches of "I Have a Dream" and "I've been to the mountaintop"]
*[http://www.mlkonline.net/sounds.html Martin Luther King Audio] Audio recordings of King speeches including "I Have a Dream"
*[http://www.mlkonline.net/music.html "I Have a Dream" by Common] Hiphop song sampling King
*[[Internet Archive]]: [http://www.archive.org/movies/movies-details-db.php?collection=open_mind&collectionid=openmind_ep727 The New Negro], King interviewed by [[J. Waites Waring]].
*[http://www.historychannel.com/speeches/ra/970828.ram RealAudio recording of the "I Have a Dream" speech] at the History Channel's site
*[http://www.mlkonline.net/video-i-have-a-dream-speech.html Full "I Have a Dream" speech video]
*[http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkatimetobreaksilence.htm "Beyond Vietnam" speech text and audio]
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAYITODNvlM YouTube clip of "How Long? Not Long!" speech in Montgomery, Ala., March 25, 1965]
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0FiCxZKuv8&feature=related YouTube clip of "Mountaintop" speech, April 3, 1968]
*[http://saidatsouthern.com/martin-luther-king-mp3/ Mp3 Sound Recording from 4/19/61 King, "The Church on the Frontier of Racial Tension, Gay Lecture delivered at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary"]
{{SCLC presidents}}
{{MLK Footer}}
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{{Time Persons of the Year 1951-1975}}
{{Nobel Peace Prize Laureates 1951-1975}}
{{Persondata
|NAME=King Jr., Martin Luther
|ALTERNATIVE NAMES=King, Martin Luther; MLK
|SHORT DESCRIPTION=Political activist
|DATE OF BIRTH=[[January 15]], [[1929]]
|PLACE OF BIRTH=[[Atlanta, Georgia|Atlanta]], [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]]
|DATE OF DEATH=[[April 4]], [[1968]]
|PLACE OF DEATH=[[Lorraine Motel]] in [[Memphis, Tennessee|Memphis]], [[Tennessee]]
}}
{{lifetime|1929|1968|King, Martin Luther, Jr.}}
[[Category:African American religious leaders]]
[[Category:African Americans' rights activists]]
[[Category:American anti-war activists]]
[[Category:American anti-Vietnam War activists]]
[[Category:American Baptist ministers]]
[[Category:American Christian pacifists]]
[[Category:American Christian socialists]]
[[Category:American humanitarians]]
[[Category:American murder victims]]
[[Category:American religious leaders]]
[[Category:American socialists]]
[[Category:American theologians]]
[[Category:Anti-racism]]
[[Category:Assassinated activists]]
[[Category:Assassinated religious leaders]]
[[Category:Assassinated American people]]
[[Category:Baptist writers]]
[[Category:Boston University alumni]]
[[Category:COINTELPRO targets]]
[[Category:Community organizing]]
[[Category:Congressional Gold Medal recipients]]
[[Category:Deaths by firearm in the United States]]
[[Category:Extrajudicial killings]]
[[Category:History of the United States (1964–1980)]]
[[Category:Grammy Award winners]]
[[Category:Martin Luther King, Jr.|Martin Luther King]]
[[Category:Morehouse College alumni]]
[[Category:Nobel Peace Prize laureates]]
[[Category:Nonviolence advocates]]
[[Category:People celebrated in the Lutheran liturgical calendar]]
[[Category:People from Atlanta, Georgia]]
[[Category:Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients]]
[[Category:Scholars and leaders of nonviolence, or nonviolent resistance]]
[[Category:Time magazine Persons of the Year]]
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