Lorraine Motel

On Thursday, April 4, 1968, at 6:05 P.M., Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was tragically shot and killed while standing on the balcony outside his second-floor room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. The news of King’s assassination triggered widespread racial violence, leading to more than 40 deaths and significant property damage in over 100 American cities. James Earl Ray, a 40-year-old fugitive, later confessed to the murder and was sentenced to 99 years in prison. During King’s funeral, a tape recording was played in which he reflected on how he wished to be remembered: “I’d like somebody to mention that day that Martin Luther King Jr. tried to give his life serving others.”