(Undated) — Today marks the 43rd anniversary of the assassination of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. It was on April 4th, 1968 at approximately 6:01 pm that Dr. King was felled by an assassin’s bullet on the second story balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. He was just 39 years old. Less than 24 hours before his death, King addressed a group of striking sanitation workers with his now-cryptic last speech “I’ve Been To The Mountain Top.”
Authorities later arrested James Earl Ray who confessed to King’s assassination and then recanted his confession. Ray was sentenced to life in prison. James Earl Ray died in April 1998 — 30 years after the death of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.. To this day, questions still surround the assassination of Dr. King and whether or not there was a conspiracy behind his death. In 2000, the Justice Department answered those questions with a resounding “no.” The department said a fifth investigation into the conspiracy theories did not support theories that James Earl Ray did not act alone in the King assassination. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. would have been 82 years old this year.
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