On April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated while standing on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. He had returned to the city to support a strike by sanitation workers seeking better pay and safer working conditions. A sniper’s bullet struck him, and he died shortly afterward at a local hospital. News of his death sparked grief and anger, leading to riots and unrest in more than 100 U.S. cities. The assassination marked a painful turning point in the civil rights era. King’s legacy of nonviolence and his push for racial and economic justice continue to influence American society and policy debates.
