Martin Luther King, Jr.

(1929-1968)

Background and Early Years

Martin Luther King Jr. was born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Ga., to the Rev. Martin Luther King Sr. and Alberta Williams. King was the middle child of three; his older sister by two years is Willie Christine and his younger brother by one year is Albert Daniel. King was involved with his father’s church and sang in the choir.

At the age of 15, without formally graduating high school, he enrolled at Morehouse College in Atlanta. By 1948, he graduated from Morehouse with a Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology. He then attended the Crozer Theological Seminary located in Chester, Penn., and in 1951, he graduated with a Bachelor of Divinity degree. That same year, in the fall, King pursued his doctoral studies at Boston University. On June 5, 1955, he achieved his Doctorate of Philosophy degree in systematic theology.

King became pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist church in Montgomery, Ala., in 1953, while he was still striving for his Ph.D. ST He and his wife, Coretta Scott, had four children: Yolanda Denise King, Martin Luther III, Dexter Scott and Bernice Albertine.

The Movement Begins

On December 1, 1955, in Montgomery, a woman named Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to comply with the Jim Crow laws in place at the time. The laws perpetuated segregation of White people from Blacks, and mandated that Blacks have separate facilities and lesser privileges. This included Blacks having to always sit at the back of the bus. Black people were expected to give up their seat on any public transportation for a White person. In this instance, Parks did not give her seat up for a White man, and didn’t move to the back of the bus. From this, King and others, including E. D. Nixon who was head of the Montgomery National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, organized the Montgomery Bus Boycott as a form of peaceful protest against the laws against Black citizens’ civil rights. The boycott lasted 382 days and the atmosphere in Alabama became so tense, particularly between Black and White residents that King’s own home was bombed. He was even arrested during the boycott and was finally acquitted by a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that outlawed all racial segregation on any form of public transportation. The boycott was successful.

King continued to fight for the civil rights of all American people, not just those of African-American descent. In 1957, he helped to create the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. This was a group made to strengthen the power of Black churches and unite them to continue non-violent protest to reform the laws against Blacks, and to serve as a moral high-ground for those involved. But on January 30, 1956, King’s house was bombed again. Coretta, who was home when it happened, ran to the back of the house with their children to avoid the explosion. King rushed home to find his family injured and his house in shards. Dozens of Blacks congregated in the streets outside what was left of his home with guns in their hands, and they were ready to fight. But King remained firm in his beliefs of non-violent opposition.

Inspiring a King

King was inspired by Mohandas “Muhatma” Ghandi, an Indian martyr who first used the methods of non-violent protest to rebel against the colonization of India by Great Britain in the mid-18^th century. Because King admired Ghandi’s teachings so much, he traveled to India, through the assistance of the Quaker group, the American Friends Service Committee and the NAACP, to visit Ghandi’s family and express his gratitude to them. The trip only strengthened King’s desire to see relations between White people and minorities improve. He made an even deeper commitment to practice non-violent means of change, and in an Indian radio broadcast he said, “Since being in India, I am more convinced that ever before that the method of non-violent resistance is the most potent weapon available to oppressed people in their struggle for justice and human dignity. In a real sense, Mahatma Ghandi embodied in his life certain universal principles that are inherent in the moral structure of the universe, and these principles are inescapable as the law of gravitation.”

However, by 1961, because of King’s influence and activity with social rights, the FBI began wire-tapping him because they feared Communists were somehow involved in the Civil Rights Movement. Instead, the government attempted to use six years worth of incidental details they got through the tapping to force King out of his leadership positions after they found no evidence of Communism. Yet, King pressed on; he led marches and other efforts of peaceful protest for things like voter’s rights, which became something Blacks had less and less of, desegregation, labor rights and women’s rights. Many believe it was due to King’s continual fight for civil rights that the government finally enacted and rewrote laws that prevented minorities from their basic American rights, and they eventually passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Although King’s desire was to keep things in peaceful order for progress, things did not always stay that way. Often there were melodramatic face-offs and opposition from segregationist authorities, and violence ensued. Other times, there was simply a lack of response or protection by local governments. An example is the Albany Movement, which was unsuccessful, where King and the SCLC tried to mobilize the Black community and the local government of Albany, Ga., but efforts were thwarted because of little cooperation or concern from the government. King, along with the SCLC, were instrumental in other attempted protests that failed such as one in Birmingham in 1963 and one in St. Augustine, Fl., in 1964.

Also in 1964, King and the SCLC joined the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in Selma, Ala., to further a movement to improve voter registration. The idea was to march from Selma to Alabama’s capital, Montgomery, on March 25, 1965. The first attempt at the march to the capital fell through after mobs and police exhibited violence toward the protestors who were practicing peaceful demonstration. Because there was so much aggression, this day was nicknamed, “Bloody Sunday.” Yet, this day was a major turning point because it demonstrated to the public how successful non-violent methods could be. Footage of the brutality that innocent and non-violent protesters faced from the police was broadcast nationally and repeatedly. The public was outraged by what they saw and many realized at that time the major injustices that were occurring in their country and how bad things had actually become. Finally, a third attempt of the march to Montgomery was staged and King, the SCLC and SNCC marched through to the capital, where King, a naturally gifted orator, delivered his “How Long, Not Long” speech.

He Had a Dream

But perhaps King’s most important and well-known accomplishment was the March on Washington, wherein he represented the SCLC and along with the “Big Six” civil rights organizations, the groups organized an enormous march in Washington D.C. for jobs and for freedom in 1963. It was at the podium in front of Lincoln Memorial, that King gave his most famous speech, “I Have a Dream,” while overlooking thousands of people on the National Mall. His speech so moved the American public, it is regarded as one of the finest addresses in the history of American oratory.

On October 14, 1964, King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for leading non-violent resistance and crusading to end discrimination in America. He was the youngest recipient to receive such an honor.

By 1966, there had been a number of successes in the fight against discrimination in the South, so King moved his family to Chicago and along with other civil rights groups; he continued his campaign for change, only this time in the North. The SCLC collaborated with the Coordinating Council of Community Organizations, the organization founded by Albert Raby Jr., and it became known as The Chicago Freedom Movement. Radical change throughout America became necessary, and in Chicago, a number of large marches took place. But it was recorded that the activists actually faced a more fervent opposition in the North than they did in the South. King often called-off events if he felt the safety of the non-violent protestors was at stake. Although, King faced one death-threat after another, they pressed forward.

In 1968, King and the SCLC developed another organization that they dubbed the “Poor People’s Campaign,” which was meant to tackle the injustices in the American economy. They campaigned by marching in Washington D.C., demanding economic aid to the members of the poorest American communities. King traveled the nation assembling a “multicultural army of the poor,” and he urged his followers to continue in the non-violent protest in the capital with him until Congress would pass what he called, a “poor people’s bill of rights.” The blueprint for such a bill of rights was created by the PPC and demanded massive government job-search programs and confronted the institutional racism and discrimination towards the impoverished by the military; he even condemned materialism. King was also against the Vietnam War, which brought him under greater scrutiny by federal law enforcement groups. Really, King was just an opponent of war in general. That same year, King gave his “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speech at the Church of God Christ, Inc. headquarters in Memphis, Tenn., during a meeting for Black sanitation workers who were on strike for better wages and treatment.

The Shot Heard Round the World

Then, the next evening, on April 4, 1968, at 6:01 p.m., Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. He was staying at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, in room 306. His close friends Ralph Abernathy and Jesse Jackson were with him during the stay. King had been standing on the second-floor balcony when he was shot. The bullet entered through his right cheek, smashed his jaw and then traveled down his spinal cord before lodging in his shoulder. Others on the trip with King heard the shots and ran to find King on the ground. They called the ambulance, but it was at St. Joseph’s hospital, a little over an hour after the shooting, that King was pronounced dead at 7:05 p.m. A wave of riots spread throughout the country when Americans heard the news of King’s assassination. President Lyndon B. Johnson declared a national day of mourning and a crowd of more than 300,000 attended King’s funeral.

Escaped convict, James Earl Ray, was found and captured at London’s Heathrow airport, two months after King’s murder. Ray was attempting to leave the United Kingdom with a false Canadian passport. He was extradited to Tennessee and charged with the assassination of King. He confessed to murdering him on March 10, 1969, but recanted his confession three days later. He was given a 99-year prison sentence.

At Coretta’s request, King eulogized himself. A recording of one of his famous sermons, “Drum Major,” was played. In that sermon, he says he does not wish for any of his awards or honors to be mention, should he pass on, but that it be said that he tried to “feed the hungry…clothe the naked…be right on the war question…” and “love and serve humanity.” King’s favorite hymn, “Take My Hand, Precious Lord” was sung by Mahalia Jackson, a close friend of his.

Conspiracy Theories

Some speculate that King’s death was no mistake or chance occurrence, but was rather a very calculated effort that the government was involved with. Some believe King’s alleged assassin, Ray, had been used as a "patsy," similar to the way that Lee Harvey Oswald John F. Kennedy’s alleged assassin was supposed to have been. A “patsy” is another word for “scapegoat,” and it is used to describe someone who has been blamed or forced to take the blame, one who is deceived or one who is a “sucker.”  Some of the claims used to support this assertion are: First, Ray's confession was given under pressure, and he had been threatened with the death penalty, second, and Ray was a thief and burglar but had no record of committing violent crimes with a weapon.

Also, many who suspect a conspiracy in the assassination point out the two separate ballistic tests conducted on the Remington Gamemaster gun that was used had conclusively proved Ray had not been the killer nor had it even been the murder weapon. 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, and not from the rooming house shrubbery, which had been inexplicably cut away in the days following the assassination.

In 1997, Martin Luther King's son, Dexter, met with Ray, and publicly supported Ray's efforts to obtain a retrial. In 1999, Coretta, King's widow, along with the rest of his family, won a wrongful death civil trial against Lloyd Jowers and "other unknown co-conspirators." Jowers claimed to have received $100,000 to arrange King's assassination. The jury of six White people and six Blacks found Jowers guilty and that "governmental agencies were parties" to the assassination plot. William F. Pepper represented the King family in the trial. King biographer, David Garrow, disagrees with William F. Pepper's claims that the government killed King. He is supported by King-assassination expert, Gerald Posner. In 2000, the Department of Justice completed the investigation about Jowers' claims, but they did not find evidence to support the allegations about conspiracy. The investigation report recommends no further investigation unless some new, reliable facts are presented.

On April 6, 2002, the New York Times reported a church minister, the 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." In 2004, Jesse Jackson, who was with King at the time of his death, noted: “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.”

King had a mutually antagonistic relationship with the FBI, especially its director, J. Edgar Hoover. Under written directives from Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, the FBI began tracking King and the SCLC in 1961. 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 that Levison had been involved with the Communist Party USA—to which another key King lieutenant, Hunter Pitts O'Dell, was also linked by sworn testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). The FBI placed wiretaps on Levison and King's home and office phones, and bugged King's rooms in hotels as he traveled across the country. The FBI also informed Kennedy and President John F. Kennedy, both of whom unsuccessfully tried to persuade King to dissociate himself from Levison. 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 Eskimos in Florida;" to which Hoover responded by calling King "the most notorious liar in the country."

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." Levinson did have ties with the Communist Party in various business dealings, but the FBI refused to believe its own intelligence bureau reports that Levinson was no longer associated in that capacity. Movement leaders countered that voter disenfranchisement, lack of education and employment opportunities, discrimination and vigilante violence were the reasons for the strength of the Civil Rights Movement, and that Blacks had the intelligence and motivation to organize on their own.

Later, the focus of the FBI’s investigations shifted to attempting to discredit King through revelations regarding his private life. FBI surveillance of King, some of it has since been made public, attempted to demonstrate that he also engaged in numerous extramarital affairs. However, much of what was recorded was, as quoted by his attorney, speech-writer and close friend Clarence B. Jones, "midnight" talk or just two close friends joking around about women. Further remarks on King's lifestyle were made by several prominent officials, such as President Johnson who scandalously said that King was a “hypocrite preacher.”

However, in 1989, Abernathy, stated in a book he authored that King was a womanizer. The book was titled And the Walls Came Tumbling Down. The New York Times reviewed the book on October 29, 1989, and the allegations of King's sexual conduct were discussed in that review, where Abernathy says that he only wrote the term womanizing, and did not specifically say King had extramarital sex. Also, evidence indicating that King possibly engaged in sexual affairs is detailed by history professor David Garrow in his book Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, published in 1986.

The FBI distributed reports regarding such affairs to the executive branch reporters, potential coalition partners and funding sources of the SCLC, and King's family. The FBI also sent anonymous letters to King threatening to reveal information if he did not cease his civil rights work. Finally, the Bureau's investigation shifted away from King's personal life to intelligence and counterintelligence work on the direction of the SCLC and the Black Power movement.

In January 31, 1977, in the cases of Bernard S. Lee v. Clarence M. Kelley, et al. and Southern Christian Leadership Conference v. Clarence M. Kelley, et al.,U.S. District Judge John Lewis Smith Jr., ordered all known copies of the recorded audiotapes and written transcripts resulting from the FBI's surveillance of King between 1963 and 1968 to be held in national archives and sealed from public access until 2027.

Across from the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, next to the rooming house in which Ray was staying was a vacant fire station. The FBI was assigned to observe King during the appearance he was planning to make on the Lorraine Motel second-floor balcony later that day, and utilized the fire station as a makeshift base. Using windows peepholes, the agents watched over the scene until King was shot. Immediately following the shooting, all six agents rushed out of the station and were the first people to administer first-aid to King. Their presence nearby has led to speculation that the FBI was involved in the assassination.

Legacy

King is one of the most widely revered figures in American history. Even posthumous accusations of marital infidelity and academic plagiarism have not seriously damaged his public reputation but merely reinforced the image of a very human hero and leader. It is true that King's movement faltered in the latter stages, after the great legislative victories were won by 1965. But even the sharp attacks by more militant Blacks, and even such prominent critics as Muslim leader Malcolm X, have not diminished his stature. However, criticism did not merely consist of blind attacks. Stokely Carmichael, a member of the Black Panther Party, was a separatist and disagreed with King's plea for racial integration because he considered it an insult to a uniquely African-American culture, and 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. To then attempt to integrate with the colonizers' culture further insulted the original African cultures. Even the notion of decolonization was problematic for Frantz Fanon, an influential figure for the Black liberation movement.

On the international scene, King's legacy included influences on the Black Consciousness Movement and Civil Rights Movements in South Africa. King's work was cited by and served as an inspiration for another Black Nobel Peace prize winner who fought for racial justice in that country, Albert Lutuli.

King's wife, Coretta, followed her husband's footsteps and was active in matters of social justice and civil rights until her death in 2006. The same year Martin Luther King was assassinated, Mrs. King established the King Center in Atlanta, dedicated to preserving his legacy and the work of championing non-violent conflict resolution and tolerance worldwide. His son, Dexter, currently serves as the center's president and CEO. Yolanda, his eldest daughter, is a motivational speaker, author and founder of Higher Ground Productions, an organization specializing in diversity training.

King's name and legacy have often been invoked since his death as people have begun to debate where he would have stood on various modern political issues were he alive today. 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 has said publicly that she believes her husband would have supported gay rights, but his daughter, Bernice, believes he would have been opposed to them. The King Center lists homophobia as an evil that must be opposed.

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 relates to racial discrimination, something which they had little knowledge being that they lived in a predominately White community.

In 1980, King's boyhood home in Atlanta and several others nearby buildings were declared as 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. It was observed for the first time on January 20, 1986, and is called Martin Luther King Day. It is observed on the third Monday of January each year, around the time of King's birthday. In January 17, 2000, for the first time, Martin Luther King Day was officially observed in all 50 U.S. states.

In 1998, Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity was authorized by the United States Congress to establish a foundation to manage fund raising and design of a Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial. King was a prominent member of Alpha Phi Alpha. King will be the first Black person honored with his own memorial in the National Mall area and the second non-President to be commemorated in such a way. The sculptor chosen is Chinese artist, Lei Yixin. The King Memorial will be administered by the National Park Service.

Awards and Honors:

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  Besides winning the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize, in 1965 the American Jewish Committee presented King with the American Liberties Medallion for his "exceptional advancement of the principles of human liberty." Reverend King said in his acceptance remarks, "Freedom is one thing. You have it all or you are not free."
  
  


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  As of 2006, more than 730 cities in the United States had streets named after King. King County, Washington rededicated its name in his honor in 1986, and changed its logo to an image of his face in 2007. The city government center in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, is the only city hall in the United States to be named in honor of King.
  
  


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  In 1965 King was awarded the Pacem in Terris Award. It was named after a 1963 encyclical letter by Pope John XXIII that calls upon all people of good will to secure peace among all nations. Pacem in Terris is Latin for 'Peace on Earth.'
  
  


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  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."
  
  


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  King received The Marcus Garvey Prize for Human Rights, presented by the Jamaican Government, posthumously in 1968.
  
  


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  In 1971, King was awarded the Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Recording for his Why I Oppose the War in Vietnam.
  
  


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  In 1977, the Presidential Medal of Freedom was awarded posthumously to King by Jimmy Carter.
  
  


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  King is the second most admired person in the 20th century, according to a Gallup poll.
  
  


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  King was voted 6th in the Person of the Century poll by TIME.
  
  


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  King was elected the third Greatest American of all time by the American public in a contest conducted by the Discovery Channel and AOL.
  
  


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  In spring of 2006, a play about King, called, Passages of Martin Luther King, was produced in Beijing with King portrayed by Chinese actor, Cao Li. The play was written by a Stanford University professor, Clayborne Carson.
  
  


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  King is one of the ten 20th century martyrs from across the world that is depicted in statues above the Great West Door of Westminster Abbey in London. He is commemorated in the Calendar of Saints of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America as a renewer of society and martyr and in the Calendar of Saints of the Episcopal Church as a civil rights leader.
  
  

Honorary Degrees:

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    Doctor of Humane Letters from Morehouse College
  
  


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  Doctor of Laws from Howard University
  
  


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  Doctor of Divinity from Chicago Theological Seminary
  
  


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  Doctor of Laws from Morgan State University
  
  


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  Doctor of Humanities from Central State University
  
  


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  Doctor of Divinity from Boston University
  
  


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  Doctor of Laws from Lincoln University
  
  


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  Doctor of Laws from University of Bridgeport
  
  


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  Doctor of Civil Law from Bard College
  
  


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   Doctor of Letters from Keuka College
  
  


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  Doctor of Divinity from Wesleyan College
  
  


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  Doctor of Laws from Jewish Theological Seminary
  
  


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  Doctor of Laws from Yale University
  
  


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  Doctor of Divinity from Springfield College
  
  


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  Doctor of Laws from Hofstra University
  
  


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   Doctor of Humane Letters from Oberlin College
  
  


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  Doctor honoris causa in Social Science from Amsterdam Free University 
  
  


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   Doctor of Divinity from St. Peter’s College
  
  


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  Doctor of Civil Law from University of Newcastle upon Tyne
  
  


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  Doctor of Laws from Grinnell College
  
  

Books:

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  Stride toward freedom; the Montgomery story (1958)
  
  


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  The Measure of a Man (1959)
  
  


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  Strength to Love (1963)
  
  


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   Why We Can't Wait (1964)
  
  


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  Where do we go from here: Chaos or community? (1967)
  
  


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  The Trumpet of Conscience (1968)
  
  


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  A Testament of Hope : The Essential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr. (1986)
  
  


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  Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, 1954–63 by Taylor Branch (1988)
  
  


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  Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference by David Garrow (1989)
  
  


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  Pillar of Fire: America in the King Years, 1963–65 by Taylor Branch (1998)
  
  


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   The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr. by Martin Luther King Jr. and Clayborne Carson (1998)
  
  


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   Judgment Days: Lyndon Baines Johnson, Martin Luther King Jr., and the Laws that Changed America by Nick Kotz (2005)
  
  


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   At Canaan's Edge: America in the King Years, 1965–68 by Taylor Branch (2006)
  
  


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   King Remembered by Flip Schulke and Penelope McPhee Forerword by Jesse Jackson(1986)

  
  

   

  
  

  Sources: Wikipedia.com; http://www.stanford.edu/group/king/encyclopedia/index.htm; 1001 Things Everyone Should Know About African American History; Top 100 American Speeches by Rank Order. American Rhetoric, 2006; The King Center: Biography. The King Center, 2006; Scott-King, Correta, My life with Martin Luther King Jr. New York, 1969, pp.124–5; http://www.stanford.edu/group/King/encyclopedia/index.htm; Haley, Alex. "Martin Luther King", The Playboy Interview, Playboy, January 1965; Infoplease.com; Haley, Alex. "Martin Luther King", The Playboy Interview, Playboy, January 1965; King, Why We Can't Wait. Signet Classics, 2000; King, Martin Luther, Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence. Speech. Hartford Web Publishing April 4, 1967; Michael Lind, Vietnam: The Necessary War, 1999 p. 182; Guenter Lewey, America in Vietnam, 1978 pp. 444–5; Frogmore, South Carolina, November 14, 1966; Coretta Scott King (ed.). Martin Luther King, Jr., Companion, p. 39. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1999; Beyond Vietnam -- A Time to Break Silence American Rhetoric: Martin Luther King, Jr; Patterson, James T.. "An epic comes to a close", Chicago Sun-Times, January 29, 2006, pp. B12; 1,300 Members Participate in Memphis Garbage Strike. AFSCME, February , 1968; Memphis Strikers Stand Firm. AFSCME, March , 1968; Rugaber, Walter. "A Negro is Killed in Memphis", The New York Times, March 29, 1968; http://www.newsweek.com/id/69542/page/2; "I've Been to the Mountaintop"; United States Department of Justice Investigation of Recent Allegations Regarding the Assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr - VII. KING V. JOWERS CONSPIRACY ALLEGATIONSUnited States Department of Justice, June 2000; Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. Christian History Institute (March, 2007; Branch, Taylor, At Canaan's Edge: America in the King Years, 1965-68 (America in the King Years). Simon & Schuster, 2006, page 766. Lucas, Dean (February 11, 2007). Famous Pictures Magazine - Martin Luther King Jr Killed. Famous Pictures Magazine; "1968: Martin Luther King shot dead", On this Day, BBC, 2006; http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/mlk/filmmore/pt.html; 1968 Memphis Sanitation Workers' Strike Chronology. AFSCME, 1968; 1970s. History of Knoxville Office. FBI, 2006; The Martin Luther King Assassination. the Real History Archives, 2006; "From small-time criminal to notorious assassin", US news, CNN, 1998; "James Earl Ray Dead At 70", CBS, April 23, 1998; "Questions left hanging by James Earl Ray's death", BBC, April 23, 1998; africanaonline.com; “James Earl Ray, convicted King assassin, dies", US news, CNN, April 23, 1998; Text of the King family's suit against Loyd Jowers and Martin Luther King Jr.'s "unknown" conspirators. Court TV, 1999; Pepper, Bill, William F. Pepper on the MLK Conspiracy Trial. Rat Haus Reality Press, April 7, 2002; Trial Information. Complete Transcript of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Assassination Conspiracy Trial. The King Center, 2006; Ayton, Mel Book review A Racial Crime: The Assassination of MLK.

  
  

  History News Network, February 28, 2005; USDOJ Investigation of Recent Allegations Regarding the Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.. Overview. USDOJ, June 2000; Canedy, Dana. "My father killed King, says pastor, 34 years on", The Sydney Morning Herald, April 6 2002; Goodman, Amy; Juan Gonzalez. "Jesse Jackson On "Mad Dean Disease," the 2000 Elections and Martin Luther King", Democracy Now!, January 15, 2004; Taylor Branch, At Canaan's Edge, Simon & Schuster, 2006, p. 770; Booknotes.org; MLK Suicide letter. Oilempire.us, 2006; Jalon, Allan M.. "A Break-In to End All Break-Ins", Los Angeles Times, March 8, 2006; Church, Frank, Church Committee Book III. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Case Study. Church Committee, April 23, 1976; The Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. upon accepting The Planned Parenthood Federation Of America Margaret Sanger Award. PPFA , 2006; Carter Center. Carter Center, 2006; "The Person of the Century Poll Results", Time, January 19, 2000,. Martin Luther King. Snopes; Abbreviated Report from the International Tribunal on Reparations for Black People in the U.S.; Williams, Brandt. "What would Martin Luther King do?", Minnesota Public Radio, January 16, 2005; The Triple Evils. The King Center, 2006; "N.H. becomes last state to honor King with a holiday," The Florida Times Union, June 8, 1999, p. A-4; Our Founding Jewels Alpha Phi Alpha; "Choice of sculptor for Martin Luther King Jr. monument draws flak", Associated Press, August 21, 2007; http://www.stanford.edu/group/King/; http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11330396; Abernathy, Ralph. And the Walls Came Tumbling Down: An Autobiography. New York: Harper & Row, 1989; Beito, David and 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, pp. 68–95; Branch, Taylor. At Canaan's Edge: America In the King Years, 1965–1968. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2006; Carl Edwin Lindgren, Tour Resurrects Shantytown Art. Southern Exposure, Vol. XX, 1992; Parting the Waters : America in the King Years, 1954–1963. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1988; Pillar of Fire : America in the King Years, 1963–1965.: Simon & Schuster, 1998; Chernus, Ira. American Nonviolence: The History of an Idea; Garrow, David J. The FBI and Martin Luther King, Jr. New York: Penguin Books, 1981; 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; Kirk, John A., Martin Luther King, Jr. London: Pearson Longman, 2005; Ayton, Mel, A Racial Crime: James Earl Ray And The Murder Of Martin Luther King Jr. Archebooks Publishing, 2005; Verhagen, Katherine. "Maritime King: African-American Rhetoric's Influence upon Africville." Wadabagei 11 (2005): 34-45; infoplease.com.