Martin Luther King Jr Murder Research Paper

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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr?s Murder

?William D. Rolle

Keiser University

26 February 2017

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Murder

Abstract

On April 4th, in the year 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated by a sniper's bullet. On the evening of that fateful day, Dr. King was murdered on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis Tennessee. James Earl Ray was the suspect that was arrested and charged for committing this heinous crime. Ray pled guilty and was sentenced to ninety-nine (99) years in prison. This crime was extensively covered by the media since Dr. King was a prominent civil rights activist at the time.

Introduction

?Martin Luther King, Jr., (January 15, 1929-April 4, 1968) was born

Martin Luther King Jr. was an authority figure in the Civil Rights Movement. He consistently spoke out against racial, social, and economic injustices that took place in America at the time. During his time as an activist, he delivered many inspirational speeches and participated in marches and demonstration. Dr. King came to be known when he was elected by the NAACP to lead a bus boycott that occurred citywide. This boycott was motivated by the case of Rosa Parks, a 15year old girl, who had been fined $14 by the court (Dr. Martin Luther King, 2010). The reason was that she had refused to give up her seat on a city bus to a white passenger. From the early days of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, Martin Luther King, Jr. referred to India?s Mahatma Gandhi as ??the guiding light of our technique of nonviolent social change? King, ??My Trip to the Land of Gandhi,?? July 1959, in?? (Papers 5:231-238). Following the success of the boycott in 1956, King contemplated traveling to India to deepen his understanding of Gandhian principles.??On 3 February 1959, King, his wife, Coretta Scott King, and Lawrence Reddick began a five-week tour of India. Upon their arrival at New Delhi?s Palam Airport on 10 February, King was feted by G.?Ramanchandran?and Sucheta Kripalani of the Gandhi Smarak Nidhi.?King?s popularity in India revealed the extent to which the Montgomery bus boycott had been covered in India and throughout the world. ??We were looked upon as brothers with the color of

After two months of a search that the FBI carried out internationally, James Earl Ray was arrested.? On April 4, 1968, within minutes after the shooting of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., a local police officer discovered a Remington 30-06 rifle, several unused bullets, and other effects that belonged to James Earl Ray, wrapped inside a blanket outside Canipe's Amusement store. The owner of the store recalled someone dropping the package at his door before the time of the assassination. Despite this evidence, it would be months before the FBI and police agencies began looking for escaped convict James Earl Ray as the alleged assassin of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.? James Earl Ray was arrested in London as he attempted to fly to Belgium on his way to Rhodesia. The United States government extradited him, and he was detained (Walker, 2010). In March 1969, James Earl Ray pleaded guilty to the murder and was given a lighter judgment. Instead of the electric chair, he was sentenced to ninety-nine (99) years imprisonment. The whole case was watched internationally as the media did not let anything pass