In a series of never-before-released photographs, Life magazine finally unveils a new look at what happened after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated more than 45 years later.
More photos at Life.com.
The eerily empty streets around the Lorraine Motel in the hours after Dr. King’s assassination
Colleagues gather on the balcony outside room 306, just a few feet from where Dr. King was shot. Groskinsky remembers that “the people at the Lorraine were annoyed that the media was talking about how there were going to be all these demonstrations. Eventually there were, but not there. Not that night. It was very quiet. I was afraid that it was going to change.”
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Stunned, silent members of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in Dr. King’s room, including Andrew Young (far left, under table lamp) and the civil rights leader and King’s colleague, Reverend Ralph Abernathy, seated in the middle on the far bed. “I was very discreet. I shot just enough to document what was going on. I didn’t want to make a nuisance of myself. And right there, almost in the center of the picture, in the mirror you can see the reflection of me taking the picture. It’s very somber, and there I am with a flash camera. So I took a couple of pictures and just kind of backed off.”
Outside of room 306, Theatrice Bailey, the brother of the motel’s owner, sweeps blood from the balcony. “I have to tell you, there was no friction with the people there at the Lorraine, even though here was this White man with a camera on the scene.”
King’s neatly packed, monogrammed briefcase in his room at the Lorraine. “That is Dr. King’s briefcase, just as it was. His brush. His pajamas. That’s a can of shaving cream there on top. And you can see his book, ‘Strength to Love,’ peeping from the pocket.”
cruiser
I was a teenager when this tragedy happened, I was living I colorado at the time, but the mood of the country at that time was very somber, despite the fact that Vietnam was at its peak. This uneccesary & horrible event shook this country to its very foundation, I can remember wathcing his funeral service on television, seeing his widow Coretta Scott King struggling to hold her emotions in check was a very moving experience. Mrs King was a very strong woman who over the years had earned a great deal of respect not just because she was Dr King’s widow but because she was a strong woman in her own right. After this I think the entire country changed its way of thinking. The civil rights movement gained even more momentum. What a sad & tragic day it was, and who would have guessed that just days later Sen Robert Kennedy would also be assasinated in Los Angeles, 1968 was NOT a good year.
castaway
MLK….MILK Different but similar. My heart sinks the same in either case.
castaway
“We are bound together…”
Need a lift? Take a couple of minutes to watch…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTh8YYzlN5s
“Let us turn out thoughts today to Martin Luther King, and recognize that there are ties between us, all men and women, living on the earth, ties of hope and love, sister and brotherhood.”
Tackle
Wow those pictures say so much, and I’m forever grateful to have had Dr King and Mrs King allied to the LGBT community.
Seth82
1968 was a horrible year for sure.
Andy Warhol was also nearly killed that year by Valerie Solanas.