NARRATOR: In March of
Jr. traveled to Memphis, Tennessee
to lead a group of striking sanitation workers
in peaceful protest.
He traveled to the city amid threats against his life, which
had escalated as his message grew
from seeking racial equality to also seeking economic equality.
The threats against his life were real.
Martin Luther King, Jr. Was assassinated
in Memphis on April 4, 1968.
The night before his death, Dr. King
gave a speech at the Mason Temple in Memphis
to promote the plight of the striking workers.
In it he discussed a previous attempt on his life
in 1958, when a mentally ill woman stabbed him with a letter
opener in a Harlem bookstore.
The blade was so close to a major artery
that the "New York Times" reported, "If King had sneezed,
he would have died."
He used that speech to reflect on how happy he was that he had
not sneezed, highlighting the great achievements
he had witnessed.
In 1960, students stood up by sitting in at lunch counters
all over the south.
In 1961, groups of black and white Americans
rode buses for freedom and an end
to segregation in interstate travel.
In 1963, black people in Birmingham, Alabama
aroused the conscience of the nation
and brought into being the civil rights bill.
He also spoke of the personal accomplishments
he had made since the assassination attempt.
If Martin Luther King, Jr. had sneezed back in 1958,
he wouldn't have been able to tell America about a dream he
once had, or gone to Selma, Alabama
to see a great movement there, or been in Memphis
to see a community rally around his brothers and sisters
who were suffering.
On the eve of his death, Martin Luther King
declared that he had no fear, that he
had seen the promised land and that one
day the world would reach it.
So I'm happy tonight.
I'm not worried about anything.
I'm not fearing any man.
Mine eyes have seen the glory of the promised land.
[cheering]
NARRATOR: He was killed the next day.
Shot in the neck while standing on the balcony
of his second floor room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis.
He was rushed to the hospital, and died within the hour.
The ensuing manhunt for King's killer
lasted for just over three months,
ending with the capture of James Earl Ray
at Heathrow Airport on June 8.
The outpouring of grief for King's death
was immediate and overwhelming.
His assassination shook people from all walks of life,
white, black, rich, poor.
His loss was felt across the nation.
Robert F. Kennedy, campaigning for the Democratic nomination
for president, informed supporters at a rally
that King had died, remarking, "We can make an effort,
as Martin Luther King did, to understand and to comprehend,
and to replace that violence, that stain of bloodshed that
has spread across our land, with an effort to understand
with compassion and love."
Kennedy was killed two months later.
Some argue the civil rights movement never fully recovered
after Dr. King's assassination.
But most agree his message of nonviolence
forever altered protest movements in this country.
His life continues to inspire generations of Americans,
showing that those united in peace
can be the greatest adversary to conflict and injustice
around the world.
[music playing]