This Day in History

April 4, 1968: Martin Luther King Jr. Assassinated

Time Periods: 1961
Themes: African American, Civil Rights Movements
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Martin Luther King Jr. Riverside Church

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke before 13,000 people at Mason Temple on March 18. He pledged to return to Memphis on March 22 to lead a march that was postponed because of a near record snowfall. The protest was rescheduled for March 28.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968 while in Memphis to support the striking sanitation workers.

This was one year to the day after his speech at Riverside Church in New York against the U.S. war in Vietnam.

Here are resources for teaching about the connection Dr. King and many others in the Civil Rights Movement made to economic justice and peace.

Related Resources
Teaching Activities (Free)

A Revolution of Values

Teaching Activity. By Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 3 pages.
Text of speech by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on the Vietnam War, followed by three teaching ideas.

Hidden in Plain Sight: Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Radical Vision (Teaching Activity) | Zinn Education Project: Teaching People's History
Teaching Activities (Free)

Hidden in Plain Sight: Martin Luther King Jr.’s Radical Vision

Teaching Activity. By Craig Gordon, Urban Dreams, and the Martin Luther King Jr. Papers Project. 2003, updated in 2017.
Lesson to introduce students to the speeches and work of Dr. King beyond “I have a dream.”

We Had Set Ourselves Free’: Lessons on the Civil Rights Movement (Teaching Activity) | Zinn Education Project: Teaching People's History
Teaching Activities (Free)

‘We Had Set Ourselves Free’: Lessons on the Civil Rights Movement

Teaching Activity. By Doug Sherman. Rethinking Schools. 4 pages.
The author describes how he uses biographies and film to introduce students to the role of people involved in the Civil Rights Movement beyond the familiar heroes. He emphasizes the role and experiences of young people in the Movement.

Films

At the River I Stand

Film. Directed by David Appleby, Allison Graham, and Steven Ross. 1993. 58 minutes.
Documentary film on the African American sanitation workers’ 1968 fight for human dignity and a living wage in Memphis.

This Day in History

April 4, 1967: Martin Luther King Jr. Delivers “Beyond Vietnam” Speech

Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his speech in opposition to the Vietnam War, calling for a “revolution of values.”

Sanitation Workers Protest 1968
This Day in History

Feb. 12, 1968: Sanitation Workers Strike in Memphis

Over 1,100 sanitation workers strike and march for better wages, conditions, and safety with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Memphis, Tennessee.

This Day in History

March 14, 1968: King Speaks About the “Other America” in the North

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave the speech titled “The Other America” focusing on economic inequalities and white complicity in the North.