The assassination of Martin Luther King

4 April 1968, Memphis, USA

Civil rights campaigner Martin Luther King Jr was fatally shot in the neck while standing on the balcony outside his room at the Lorraine Motel. News of his death triggered unrest and riots throughout the country, with criminal James Earl Ray convicted for the assassination a year later. For many, MLK’S death was proof that non-violent means could not achieve equality for African-americans, thereby contributing to the rise of the more militant Black Power movement.