Remembering Martin Luther King Jr.

A look at some of the pivotal moments in the life of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. as we mark the 50th anniversary of the tragic end of his life on April 4, 1968.
1
The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was welcomed with a kiss from his wife Coretta after leaving court in Montgomery, Ala., March 22, 1956. King was found guilty of conspiracy to boycott city buses in a campaign to desegregate the bus system, but a judge suspended his $500 fine pending appeal. (Gene Herrick/Associated Press)
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A man put powder on Martin Luther King Jr.’s brow before a television program in Washington, Aug. 13, 1957. The president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference discussed the current racial situation on NBC’s “Meet the Press” program. (Henry Burroughs/Associated Press)
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Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was embraced by his wife Coretta Scott King during a news conference at Harlem Hospital in New York on Sept 30, 1958, where doctors successfully removed a seven-inch letter opener from his chest following an attack by a woman at a book signing. At left is his mother, Alberta Williams King. (Tony Camerano/Associated Press)
4
Civil rights leader Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was followed by Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, left, and Ralph Abernathy as they attended funeral services at the Sixth Avenue Baptist Church for three of the four black girls killed in a church explosion in Birmingham, Ala., Sept. 18, 1963. (Associated Press)
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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., head of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, addresses marchers during his “I Have a Dream” speech at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington on Aug. 28 , 1963. (Associated Press)
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Civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. waved to supporters on Aug. 28, 1963 on the Mall in Washington DC during the ‘March on Washington. (AFP )
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In smoke and fire from hundreds of torches, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. arrived to deliver the traditional address of the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize at the University of Oslo Festival Hall, Dec. 12, 1964. (Associated Press)
8
American civil rights campaigner Martin Luther King and his wife Coretta Scott King lead a black voting rights march from Selma, Ala.,, to the state capital in Montgomery on March 30, 1965. (William Lovelace/Express/Getty Images)
9
Martin Luther King, Jr. addressed the Mass. legislation during his visit to Boston on April 22, 1965. Dr. King led a march through the city to protest segregated housing conditions and racially imbalanced schools, and spoke at Boston Common and the State House during his visit. (Paul Connell/Globe Staff)
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During the Boston visit, the wife of Rev. Virgil Woods presented a flower to Martin Luther King, Jr. on April 22, 1965, as her son, Bobby Woods, looks on. (Paul Connell/Globe Staff)
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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., marched down Charles Street with Ralph Abernathy, right, and Rev. Virgil Wood, head of the Boston branch of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference The demonstration to protest schools, jobs and housing as headed to The Boston Common April 23, 1965. (Associated Press)
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Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., co-pastor with his father of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Ga., spoke in Eutaw, Ala., June 4, 1965. (Associated Press)
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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., leader of the Vietnam war protest demonstration that attracted 125,000, voiced a repeated demand to “Stop the bombing” in New York on April 15, 1967. He said, “I think this is just the beginning of a massive outpouring of dissent.” (Associated Press)
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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Rev. Ralph Abernathy, right, lead a march on behalf of striking Memphis, Tenn. sanitation workers on March 28, 1968. Fifty years ago, two sanitation workers were killed by a malfunctioning garbage truck in Memphis. Martin Luther King Jr. came to Memphis to support the strike. (Sam Melhorn/The Commercial Appeal via AP)
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The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. stood with other civil rights leaders on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tenn., on April 3, 1968, a day before he was assassinated at approximately the same place. From left are Hosea Williams, Jesse Jackson, King, and Ralph Abernathy. (Charles Kelly/Associated Press)
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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. made his last public appearance at the Mason Temple in Memphis, Tenn., on April 3, 1968. The following day King was assassinated on his motel balcony. (Charles Kelly/Associated Press)
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Dr. Ralph Abernathy and Jesse Jackson (both obscured) and others stand on the balcony of Lorraine Motel and point in the direction of gun shots that killed American civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who lies at their feet, in Memphis April 4, 1968. (Joseph Louw/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images)
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A portrait of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was raised above the thousands of persons who joined the slain civil rights leader’s funeral procession in Atlanta on April 9, 1968. The marchers were singing “We Shall Overcome,” the theme song of King’s civil rights movement. (Toby Massey/Associated Press)
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New York Senator Robert Kennedy, right, marched in the funneral procession honoring fallen Civil Rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in Atlanta on April 9, 1968, passes a neighborhood movie marquee ironicly billing “Day of the Evil Gun.” (Bettmann)
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A man looked at a memorial for Martin Luther King Jr. in the window of Jordan Marsh in Boston on April 6, 1968. (Bill Ryerson/Globe Staff)
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People participated in a rally for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., in Post Office Square in downtown Boston on April 5, 1968, the day after he was assassinated. (Bill Ryerson/Globe Staff)
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Students participated in a prayer for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at the Julia Ward Howe School in the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston on April 5, 1968. (Joe Runci/Globe Staff)
23
Smoldering ruins remained where a building stood on 7th and O Streets in northwest Washington on April 6, 1968. Numerous fires accompanied the second night of turmoil in the nation’s capital following the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., in Memphis. (Associated Press)
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Thomas Atkins, left, and Boston Mayor Kevin White, right, spoke with singer James Brown, before Brown’s concert at the Boston Garden on April 5, 1968. Urged by Mayor White, Brown famously took to the stage the day after the assasination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr in a televised concert. Atkins, Brown and White are credited with keeping the city quiet in the aftermath. (Bob Dean/Globe Staff)
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Blue Hill Avenue in Boston was the scene of sporadic violence and demonstrations following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (Tom Landers/Globe Staff)
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People gathered around the Parkman Bandstand during a memorial service for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at the Boston Common on April 8, 1968. (Joyce Dopkeen/Globe Staff)
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Standing on the Lorraine Motel balcony where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was killed on April 4, his widow Coretta Scott King spoke at ceremonies in Memphis, May 2, 1968, to kickoff the Poor People’s Campaign planned by her husband. A memorial plaque was dedicated at the ceremony. Rev. Ralph Abernathy, Dr. King’s successor as leader of SCLC, is at right. (Associated Press)
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U.S. Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., hugged Deborah Manning-Thomas after she performed “Amazing Grace” at the National Civil Rights Museum, formerly the Lorraine Motel, during a tour by several members of Congress in Memphis, Tenn. on March 2, 2018. Rev. Martin Luther King was assassinated on the hotel balcony behind them on April 4, 1968. Members of Congress are on a three-day pilgrimage to locations with ties to Martin Luther King. (Yalonda James/The Commercial Appeal via AP)
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A group of teenagers and adults from Mississippi walked along U.S. Highway 61 as part of their 50-mile march to Memphis as a tribute to slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. on March 31, 2018, in Dundee, Miss. The group plans to attend events commemorating the 50th anniversary of King’s death in Memphis on April 4. (Adrian Sainz/Associated Press)
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Rev. Jesse Jackson walked with his family on the balcony of the former Lorraine Motel, now the National Civil Rights Museum, on April 3, 2018 in Memphis. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images)
31
Cherry blossoms surrounded the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in West Potomac Park near the National Mall in Washington, DC on April 3. (Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA/Shutterstock)
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