This year marks the 54 years since Martin Luther King Jr. traveled to Tennessee to support 1,300 sanitation workers in their quest for equal rights. It wasn't his first stop, but that fateful evening on April 4, 1968, at exactly 6:05 p.m., it would prove to be his last.

Today, Kennedys and King take you further into the events of the day of this brave leader's assassination.

A Death Prompted by Death

MLK's death wasn't directly prompted by death; it was more of a butterfly effect—a melting pot that had gone unwatched for quite a while. Let us explain.

• February 1, 1968: A garbage truck malfunctions, killing two sanitation workers.
• February 12, 1968: After several attempts at negotiating better working conditions for Black sanitation workers, a strike is announced, picket lines are erected, and signs are held to protest poor working conditions for Tennessee's sanitation workers.
• April 3, 1968: King and his aides arrive in Memphis to support the protest.
• April 4, 1968: King falls after someone fires a single shot from a high-powered rifle.

The Reason Behind Staying at the Lorraine Motel

When MLK checked into Room 306 at the Lorraine Motel on April 3, 1968, he had no idea it would become a crime scene the next day. His reasons for staying at the motel were simple: it was one of those rare places that hosted African American guests.

A few hours after checking into the motel, King gave his last public speech at Mason Temple Church. Famously titled "I’ve Been to the Mountaintop,” a slightly under-the-weather MLK would end up talking about his mortality, entirely unaware of his impending demise.

The Details of the Martin Luther King Jr. Assassination

We all know that MLK was standing on the balcony of his room when he was shot. But why was he there? There are more what-ifs in his assassination than any other political assassinations of the 1960s:

• What if MLK hadn’t been invited to have dinner with Reverend Samuel Billy Kyles at his home?
• What if he hadn’t emerged on the balcony of his room?
• What if Andrew Young hadn’t asked him to get his coat?
• What if the fatal shot had landed on his shoulder instead of his face?

The activist and leader died an hour after a single rifle shot shattered his jaw and spinal column and severed his spinal cord.

Discover the Aftermath on Kennedys and King

Do you want to know what happened after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.? Explore the manhunt that followed his demise and the documents revealed since the events of that fateful day in April 1968 on Kennedys and King.

Read our articles, blogs, and archives to learn the truth behind the political murders of the 1960s, particularly those of Malcolm X, Robert F. Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, and Martin Luther King Jr.

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