The 45th anniversary of the
assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. was marked
in cities across the country today as Americans paid tribute to the
slain civil rights leader.
His hometown of Atlanta launched a campaign against against youth violence and a labor union rally was held in Memphis, the city where he was killed.
King, who advocated nonviolence, racial brotherhood and equal rights, rose to international prominence after leading the Montgomery bus boycott, which began in December 1955. He went on to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964.
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In 1968, he traveled to Memphis to support sanitation workers who were striking against unfair working conditions and low pay.
King was shot and killed while standing on a balcony outside his room at the Lorraine Hotel.
He was 39-years-old at the time of his death, but an autopsy revealed that his heart had been strained so much that it looked like that of a 60-year-old.
James Earl Ray, a segregationist, confessed to the assassination but recanted shortly afterward and tried for years to get a new trial. He died in prison in 1998 while serving a 99-year sentence.
The hotel is now home to the National Civil Rights Museum, which on Thursday will commemorate King's death with a labor union rally, wreath laying and panel discussion including Alvin Turner, a retired sanitation worker who participated in the strike.
'It's
been 45 years since the assassination, and it's been 45 years that the
country's struggle has continued for equality and freedom,' said Barbara
Andrews, director of education for the National Civil Rights Museum.
Members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees labor union, which organized the 1968 sanitation strike in Memphis, planned a march from the local union office to the museum, union spokesman Chris Fleming said.
Martin Luther King III, son of the late civil rights leader, is scheduled to speak at the rally, Fleming said.
At the time of his death, King was visiting Memphis to bring attention to the ongoing strike of sanitation workers who were fighting racial prejudice on multiple fronts.
Wages were so low that some workers had to stand in welfare lines to feed their families. Working conditions were so dangerous men were dying on the job.
They were overworked and
underpaid, picking up grimy, leaking waste without proper uniforms. They
faced the daily risk of severe injury or death while working with
malfunctioning garbage trucks.
They took a job no one else wanted, mostly black workers picking up the trash of white people, serving in what some scholars liken to an urban extension of plantation life on the cotton fields.
Their demeaning nickname: 'walking buzzards.'
After two workers were crushed to death in a truck's compactor, the sanitation workers went on strike February 11.
King came to Memphis to support
them nearly two months later, delivering his last public speech April 3,
declaring, 'I've been to the mountaintop.'
The King Center in Atlanta said that it would honor its namesake today by kicking off 'The 50 Days of Nonviolence,' a challenge for youth to abstain from violence for the rest of the current school year.
'As my father said, 'The choice is no longer between violence and nonviolence. It is either nonviolence or nonexistence,'' said Bernice King, the civil rights leader's daughter and chief executive officer of the King Center.
'We believe young people have a leadership role to play in creating a nonviolent society,' she said.
His hometown of Atlanta launched a campaign against against youth violence and a labor union rally was held in Memphis, the city where he was killed.
King, who advocated nonviolence, racial brotherhood and equal rights, rose to international prominence after leading the Montgomery bus boycott, which began in December 1955. He went on to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964.
Scroll down for video
Marching with the workers: Martin Luther King Jr
was in Memphis in April 1968 to support sanitation workers, seen here
just days before his April 4, 1968 assassination
Tragic: King was standing on his balcony outside the Lorraine Motel on April 4 when he was shot
Fatal: He was shot in the cheek and the bullet his a few vertebrae killing him almost immediately on impact
King was shot and killed while standing on a balcony outside his room at the Lorraine Hotel.
He was 39-years-old at the time of his death, but an autopsy revealed that his heart had been strained so much that it looked like that of a 60-year-old.
James Earl Ray, a segregationist, confessed to the assassination but recanted shortly afterward and tried for years to get a new trial. He died in prison in 1998 while serving a 99-year sentence.
The hotel is now home to the National Civil Rights Museum, which on Thursday will commemorate King's death with a labor union rally, wreath laying and panel discussion including Alvin Turner, a retired sanitation worker who participated in the strike.
Visiting the site: The tourists regularly visit the balcony outside room 306 where King was staying at the time
As it stands: The Lorraine Hotel in Memphis is now a part of the National Civil Rights Museum
Members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees labor union, which organized the 1968 sanitation strike in Memphis, planned a march from the local union office to the museum, union spokesman Chris Fleming said.
Martin Luther King III, son of the late civil rights leader, is scheduled to speak at the rally, Fleming said.
At the time of his death, King was visiting Memphis to bring attention to the ongoing strike of sanitation workers who were fighting racial prejudice on multiple fronts.
Wages were so low that some workers had to stand in welfare lines to feed their families. Working conditions were so dangerous men were dying on the job.
In his honor: Martin Luther King III, the civil
rights leader's son, speaks at an event on Wednesday at the Mason
Temple, which is the same location where his father gave his final
speech on April 4, 1968
Living his legacy: Organizations throughout the
country are holding events to honor the 45th anniversary of Martin
Luther King Jr's (left) death, including the King Center which is headed
up by his son (right)
Paying tribute: The Martin Luther King Jr.
Memorial in Washington is the largest memorial to a civil rights leader
in the nation's capitol
They took a job no one else wanted, mostly black workers picking up the trash of white people, serving in what some scholars liken to an urban extension of plantation life on the cotton fields.
Their demeaning nickname: 'walking buzzards.'
After two workers were crushed to death in a truck's compactor, the sanitation workers went on strike February 11.
Outpouring of grief: A crowd follows the casket of King in his funeral procession in Atlanta on April 9, 1968
Family of the fallen: Widow Coretta Scott King stands with her children to view the body on April 7
Political moves: Vice President Hubert Humphrey speaks to widow Coretta moments before the funeral
The King Center in Atlanta said that it would honor its namesake today by kicking off 'The 50 Days of Nonviolence,' a challenge for youth to abstain from violence for the rest of the current school year.
'As my father said, 'The choice is no longer between violence and nonviolence. It is either nonviolence or nonexistence,'' said Bernice King, the civil rights leader's daughter and chief executive officer of the King Center.
'We believe young people have a leadership role to play in creating a nonviolent society,' she said.
Bringing him to town: Conspiracy theories
followed King's death for years, but the reason he traveled to Memphis
was to support the striking sanitation workers who were fighting for
fair wages and safe treatment
Weapon: The Congressional investigators examined the Remmington rifle that was used to kill King
Man behind the murder: James Earl Ray, who
initially admitted his guilt after being caught in London's Heathrow
Airport months after the April shooting, testified in front of the House
Assassination Committee changing his story in 1978