On this day...

"Life's most persistent and urgent question is, what are you
doing for others?"

US civil rights activist Martin Luther King was shot dead on April 4, 1968. King had enemies, but many more friends who admired his achievements and his works to gain a peaceful environment between colored and non-colored people. But who assassinated this man of peace?

Martin Luther King Jr. was born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia. King, both a Baptist minister and civil-rights activist, had a seismic impact on race relations in the United States, beginning in the mid-1950s. Among many efforts, King headed the SCLC. Through his activism, he played a pivotal role in ending the legal segregation of African-American citizens in the South and other areas of the nation, as well as the creation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. King received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, among several other honors. King was assassinated in April 1968, and continues to be remembered as one of the most lauded African-American leaders in history, often referenced by his 1963 speech, "I Have a Dream." Know more about Martin Luther King here.



The FBI issued a "Wanted" poster for James Earl Ray (King's assassin). He fled the country, but was caught at London's Heathrow airport. He pleaded guilty and received a 99-year prison term. In 1977 Ray escaped from jail for three days. He died in prison in 1998, aged 70. Below, Martin Luther King's son Dexter King meets James Earl Ray in 1998. James said he did not kill Martin Luther King jr.