Monday marks 48 years since the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Junior.
The civil rights icon was in Memphis, Tennessee to support a strike by sanitation workers. He was gunned down at the Lorraine Motel just after 6:00 p.m. on April 4, 1968. He was 39 years old.
Riots erupted in more than 100 cities around the U.S. in the days after his death. A small-time criminal, named James Earl Ray pleaded guilty to Dr. King’s murder in 1969, but later recanted his confession. Subsequent investigations found Ray guilty, but even members of Dr. King’s own family had questions about Ray’s involvement.
