Martin Luther King dedicated his life to love and to justice for his fellow human beings, and he died because of that effort.
Statement by Senator Robert F. Kennedy on the Death of the Reverend Martin Luther King April 4, 1968
In his final campaign before his death, civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. lent his support to a strike by sanitation workers in Memphis, Tennessee. This flyer was distributed to sanitation workers in Memphis, Tennessee, asking them to “March for Justice and Jobs” on March 22, 1968. Included are directions for the route to be followed and instructions to the marchers to use “soul-force which is peaceful, loving, courageous, yet militant.”
Exhibit 1 in City of Memphis vs. Martin Luther King, Jr, 1968
Coretta Scott King, the wife of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., died January 30, 2006. After her husband’s death she continued to champion the causes of civil rights and justice, founding the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change.
Jimmy Carter and Rosalynn Carter sing with Martin Luther King, Sr., Coretta Scott King, Andrew Young and other civil rights leader during a visit to Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, 01/14/1979
Born on January 15, 1929, Martin Luther King, Jr. was a key leader of the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s in the United States. President Lyndon B. Johnson issued this proclamation for a national day of mourning after King was assasinated on April 4, 1968. This year we celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. with a Federal Holiday on January 16th.
Happy Birthday Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
January 15, 1929 - April 4, 1968
On December 1, 1955, during a typical evening rush hour in Montgomery, Alabama, a 42 year-old woman took a seat near the front of the bus (illustrated in this diagram) on her way home from the Montgomery Fair department store where she worked as a seamstress. Before she reached her destination, she quietly set off a social revolution when the bus driver instructed her to move, and she refused. The bus driver called the police and they arrested Rosa Parks, an African American woman of unchallenged character.
The African-American community of Montgomery organized a boycott of the buses in protest of the discriminating treatment they had endured for years. The boycott, under the leadership of 26-year-old minister Martin Luther King, Jr., was a peaceful, coordinated protest that lasted 381 days and captured world attention.
August 28, 1963 - Images from the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom
The March and Marian Anderson
Part 2 of the film “The March,” from United States Information Agency (USIA) about the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, depicts the crowds of marchers walking “quietly and orderly” from the Washington Memorial to the Lincoln Memorial.
This segment of the film ends with Marian Anderson singing “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands.”
Read the transcript of Part 2 of “The March.”
August 28 - Official Program for the March on Washington, 08/28/1963
This program listed the events scheduled at the Lincoln Memorial during the August 28, 1963, March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The highlight of the march, which attracted 250,000 people, was Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech.
Preparing for the March on Washington
Part 1 of the film, “The March,” shows planning stages of the 1963 March on Washington, including volunteers making 80,000 cheese sandwiches, passing out “I March for Jobs and Freedom” pins, sound checks, singing the night before the March, and people arriving in Washington, DC on the morning of August 28, 1963.
Read the transcript of Part 1 of “The March.”
President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the 1964 Civil Rights Act as Martin Luther King, Jr., others look on. July 2, 1964 in the East Room of the White House.
June 22, 1963 - Photograph of White House Meeting with Civil Rights Leaders.
June 15 - Telegram from Jackie Robinson to President John F. Kennedy, June 15, 1963
Former baseball champion Jackie Robinson went on to promote the cause of civil rights from his position as a prominent executive of the Chock Full o’Nuts Corporation. In this telegram to President Kennedy dated June 15, 1963, he laments the recent murder of Medgar Evars and implores the President to halt the escalating violence.
