In 1968, civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., 39, was shot and killed while standing on a balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, TN; his slaying was followed by a wave of rioting (Washington, DC, Baltimore and Chicago were among cities particularly hard hit.) Suspected gunman James Earl Ray later pleaded guilty to assassinating King, then spent the rest of his life claiming he’d been the victim of a setup. #MLK |
