Martin Luther King kept working toward the goal of equal rights. On April fourth nineteen sixty-eight, he died working toward that goal.

King was shot to death in Memphis, Tennessee. He had gone there to support a strike by waste collection workers.

WALTER CRONKITE: “Doctor King was standing on the balcony of his second floor hotel room tonight when, according to a companion, a shot was fired from across the street. In the friend’s words, the bullet exploded in his face.”

CBS newsman Walter Cronkite.

WALTER CRONKITE: “The police, who have been keeping a close watch over the Nobel Peace Prize winner because of Memphis’ turbulent racial situation, were on the scene almost immediately. They rushed the thirty-nine year old Negro leader to a hospital, where he died of a bullet wound in the neck.”

A white man, James Earl Ray, was tried and found guilty of the crime.

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A wave of unrest followed the murder of Martin Luther King. Blacks in more than one hundred cities in America rioted. In some cities, areas affected by the riots were not rebuilt for many years. The movement for civil rights for black Americans continued. But it became increasingly violent. The struggle produced angry, bitter memories. Yet it also produced some of the greatest words spoken in American history.

This August 28, 1963, file photo shows Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. waving to the crowd at the Lincoln Memorial for his "I Have a Dream" speech during the March on Washington