the mountaintop speech
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Watch: King’s Mountaintop, 50 Years Later
When Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968, on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel, the news shocked the world. The day before, King gave his last speech, known today as the “Mountaintop” speech—one that some would call a prophecy. The civil rights leader went to Memphis, Tenn., to shed light on…
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Episode 9: ‘We’ve Gotta March Again.’ Sanitation Workers Remember Martin Luther King Jr.’s Last Battle Cry
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. returned to Memphis, Tenn., on April 3, 1968, one day after the funeral of Larry Payne—the 16-year-old boy killed by Memphis Police Officer Leslie Dean Jones. King was exhausted and battling deep depression, the kind that makes it difficult to get out of bed. He was tired of…