Martin Luther King, Jr. Final Speech

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered this speech in support of the striking sanitation workers at Mason Temple in Memphis, TN on April 3, 1968 — the day before he was assassinated.

The Official Story: Martin Luther King was killed by a sniper on April 4, 1968, at 6:01 p.m. as he stepped onto the balcony outside the Motel Lorraine in Memphis, Tennessee. See the original New York Times news story on this day.

A small-time thief named James Earl Ray shot Martin Luther King from the bathroom of the flophouse across from where King was staying. Allegedly, Ray balanced on the edge of a bathtub, rested his rifle on the window sill, and fired a single shot that with trained-sniper perfection entered King in the head. No witness saw Ray shoot, although one claimed he saw a man leaving the bathroom around that time. A bag was found in front of a store near the rooming house, and the bag had a rifle sticking out of it. The rifle bore James Earl Ray's fingerprints.

James Earl Ray confessed in court to the crime, and was sentenced to life instead of being given the death penalty due to that confession.