Top 10 Sensational Facts about Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. (1968)

Martin Luther King, 1964,By Nobel Foundation. Wikipedia

Top 10 Sensational facts about Assassination Martin Luther King, Jr (1968)

Martin Luther King Jr. was a social activist and Baptist minister who played a key role in the American civil rights movement from the mid-1950s until his assassination in 1968. King sought equality and human rights for African Americans, the economically disadvantaged and all victims of injustice through peaceful protest.  King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 and is remembered each year on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a U.S. federal holiday since 1986.

This entails the top 10 sensational facts about the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr that took place in 1968. They include the following facts;

1.The assassination of Martin Luther King was the second attempt

The killing of King  Luther  was the second attempt on his life. A decade before he was assassinated, King  Luther was nearly stabbed to death in Harlem when a mentally ill African-American woman stabbed him in the chest with a letter opener. The woman  believed  that he was conspiring against her with communists, so he therefore underwent emergency surgery, and remained hospitalized for several weeks but made a full recovery. 

2.He was assassinated by James Earl Ray

On April 4, 1968, King was assassinated by  James Earl Ray who is said to have escaped from the Missouri State Penitentiary by hiding in a truck transporting bread from the prison bakery, in 1967. On the day of the assassination Ray took a room in boarding house that had a view to the motel. King and his entourage frequently stayed at the Lorraine Motel while staying in Memphis.

3.He was on the second- floor balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis

View of the site of the assassination of Martin Luther King, By DavGreg –Wikipedia

When was shot, he was standing on the balcony of the motel. He was hit by a single.30-06 bullet that was fired from a Remington Model 760 rifle The bullet entered through King’s right cheek, breaking his jaw and several vertebrae as it traveled down his spinal cord, severing his major arteries in the process, before lodging in his shoulder. He then fell backward onto the balcony, unconscious. King was taken to St. Joseph’s where doctors attempted emergency surgery before pronouncing him dead at 7:05 p.m.

4. His assassination led to major outbreaks of looting, arson and violence

 News of King’s assassination prompted major outbreaks of looting, arson, and violence, resulting in death and major property damage in more than 100 American cities. Altogether, 43 men and women were killed, approximately 3,500 were injured, and 27,000 were arrested. Not until over 58,000 National Guardsmen and army troops joined local state and police forces did the uprisings cease. 

5. James Earl was imprisoned in Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary

After Early  shot Luther he escaped thus making a wanted fugitive in the FBI’s list. He was captured on June 8 1968 at  London’s Heathrow Airport, after a two month long international manhunt. On March 10, 1969, He pleaded guilty to King’s murder and was sentenced to 99 years in Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary.

6.There was no testimony in  Earl’s trial

Mug shot of James Earl Ray. By Federal Bureau of Prisons –Wikipedia

During Early’s trial there was no testimony given and later on he renounced his confession and claimed he was the victim of a conspiracy. Members of King’s family, including his son Dexter, publicly met with Ray in 1977 and began arguing for a reopening of his case but the government investigations concluded  that Ray was the lone assassin. Later that same year Ray became the one the FBI’s Most Wanted Fugitives list after he and six other convicts escaped from the prison. He was recaptured three days later and given another year in prison, bringing his sentence to 100 years.

7. Luther’s last words were to musician Ben Branch

According to biographer Taylor Branch, King’s last words were to musician Ben Branch. He was scheduled to perform that night at a planned event. King said, “Ben, make sure you play ‘Take My Hand, Precious Lord’ in the meeting tonight. Play it real pretty. Ben Branch  was an American entrepreneur, jazz tenor saxophonist, and bandleader. He is better known as being the last person Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke to moments before his assassination in 1968.

8. He stayed at the motel with a friend in the king Abernathy Suite

Reverend Ralph Abernathy, who was a close friend and mentor of Martin Luther King Jr, later told the House Select Committee on Assassinations that he and King had stayed in Room 306 at the Lorraine Motel so often that was known as the “King–Abernathy Suite”. He collaborated with King and E. D. Nixon to create the Montgomery Improvement Association. It led to the Montgomery bus boycott, and co-created and was an executive board member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC).

9.Doctors performed Cardiopulmonary resuscitation

 Cardiopulmonary resuscitation is an emergency procedure  that consists of chest compressions  combined with artificial ventilation in an effort to manually preserve intact brain function until further measures are taken to restore spontaneous blood circulation and breathing in a person who is in cardiac arrest. 

When Luther was rushed to St. Joseph’s Hospital, the doctors opened his chest and performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation. He never regained consciousness and died at 7:05 p.m.

10. There might have been a conspiracy in his assassination

Martin Luther King, 1964,By Nobel Foundation. Wikipedia

 The United State House Select Committee on Assassination  was established in 1976 to investigate the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1963 and 1968, respectively, It concluded that there was a likelihood of conspiracy in the assassination of King and that Ray was a scapegoat in 1979.

In 1999, a mixed-race jury at a Memphis civil suit reached a unanimous verdict that King was assassinated as a result of a conspiracy involving the U.S. government, a person named Raoul, among others. After the verdict, Coretta King said: “There is abundant evidence of a major, high-level conspiracy in the assassination of my husband.” The jury found the mafia and various local, state, and federal government agencies were “deeply involved in the assassination.  Mr. Ray was set up to take the blame.”