LIFE's Previously Unpublished Photos from the Day MLK Died

Tomorrow marks the 41st anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. To mark the date, LIFE has released a series of previously unpublished photos taken in and around the Lorraine Motel on that terrible day. You can view those here. In our April edition, I discussed the life and achievements of T.R.M. Howard, a pioneering civil rights activist and entrepreneur who played an indispensable role in the pre-King phase of the civil rights struggle.

[Via Cliopatria]

Comments

[Brett Stevens]

I realize it’s considered racist to oppose anything anyone who’s black has ever done, but MLK is no hero of mine.

His religious looniness, his plagiarism and his use of civil rights as a weapon against the integrity of the country laid down some bad templates for the future.

[Art-P.O.G.]

I’m almost interested in hearing you elaborate on what you consider MLK’s “racial looniness” or what you consider the “integrity of the country” that you say he used civil rights to bludgeon.

[hugh jass]

I think that it’s interesting that a major national figure like MLK was staying at what appeared to have been a pretty shitty motel.

[Ska]

is it wrong to point out that I thought the blog this was pulled from was Clitopatra?

That’s a pretty sweet name for a light brown porn star, isn’t it?

[kinnath]

I think that it’s interesting that a major national figure like MLK was staying at what appeared to have been a pretty shitty motel.

Black man — 1960’s — self-evident

[anarch]

Art-P.O.G., Brett Stevens wrote not racial, but religious, looniness, which for some [though not for me, and I don’t know about Brett Stevens] is a pleonasm. Maybe the other criticism is about stretching the Commerce Clause. And no list is complete (for those who weigh such things) without King’s adultery, right?

[economist]

“And no list is complete (for those who weigh such things) without King’s adultery, right?”

Actually, I don’t particularly care about that.

[Art-P.O.G.]

I meant to write ‘religious’ but somehow typed ‘racial’. Yeah, King had his flaws, but even keeping them in mind, he was to me a wellspring of positive effort in the Civil Rights movement.

[anarch]

I’ve long wondered to what extent personal (im)morality adduces to professional (un)trustworthiness. Haven’t come to a conclusion, except that people who keep their promises sure make things easier for everyone.

[R C Dean]

I meant to write ‘religious’ but somehow typed ‘racial’.

Freud’z Law?

I’ve long wondered to what extent personal (im)morality adduces to professional (un)trustworthiness.

I see no reason to believe that they don’t correlate.