50 Years Ago Today, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was Assassinated

On April 4, 1968, civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was assassinated.

American civil rights activist Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. stands and holds his hand out as he addresses a large crowd gathered at the Lincoln Memorial for the March on Washington in Washington, D.C., 1963.

© Hulton Archive/Getty Images

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There is a little song that we sing in the movement taking place in the South. It goes something like this. "We shall overcome. We shall overcome. Deep in my heart I do believe we shall overcome." And somehow all over America we must believe that we shall overcome and that these problems can be solved. They will be solved before the victory is won.

-- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s address to the AFL-CIO Convention, December 11, 1961.

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To learn more about the life of Dr. King, the civil rights activist who we remember today, visit the Library's Biography database page, which contains summaries, articles, primary documents, speeches, images, and more. (Available to all SWC students, faculty, and staff).

To read more about the FBI investigation into the assassination, go to the official report on the U.S. National Archives page.

Want to know more? The Library has many books, e-books, and videos available about Dr. King.