Martin Luther King Jr.'s Assassination: Examining Leadership & Legacy

This essay explores the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. by James Earl Ray and King's significant leadership role in the Civil Rights Movement. It highlights his commitment to non-violent protest and civil disobedience, which garnered national media attention and shifted public opinion on racial segregation. King's leadership in the Montgomery bus boycott and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference are discussed, emphasizing his ability to mobilize mass protests and advocate for voting rights and desegregation. The essay also examines King's leadership qualities, such as confidence, determination, and verbal ability, which enabled him to inspire followers and effect change, ultimately leading to the end of segregation laws and fostering racial equality. Desklib provides this essay and other resources for students.

MARTIN LUTHER KING
ASSASSINATION

Martin Luther king is known as the leader of the Civil Rights Movement. He was also a
Nobel Peace Prize Laureate who followed the principles of civil disobedience and non- violence.
He was assassinated by James Earl Ray at Lorraine Motel in Memphis (Shelby, 2018). The
present essay throws light on Martin Luther King’s assassination, his leadership and his efforts to
change the thinking of Americans and eliminate racial issues.
(Source: Bridges, 2019)
Martin Luther King was staying in room 306 at the Lorraine Motel. King was leaning
over the balcony of the room and talking to Rev. Jesse Jackson when he was shot in the face at
6:01 pm. The shot was fired from Remington Model 760 rifle. The bullet injured his jaw and
several vertebrae and went through the spinal cord. As a result of this, his jugular vein and major
arteries were severely injured. He fell backwards and was unconscious. He was bleeding
profusely and was fatally shot following which was rushed to the hospital where he died. Soon
after, James was arrested and extradited to United States (Rogers, Moffitt and Foo, 2021). He
was charged with crime. As he was pleaded guilty, he was sentenced to 99 years.
It is believed by the Kings family that the assassination was a consequence of the
conspiracy which involved US government, mafia, as well as the Memphis police. A wrongful
death suit was filed by the family in the year 1999 against Jowers regarding the sum of $10
1

million. It was during the trail, that evidences were presented by both the sides that alleged the
presence of a government conspiracy. Also, the agencies which were accused could not defend
themselves as they were not named in the category of defendants. On the basis of the trail, it was
concluded by the jury that others including Jowers were a part of conspiracy to kill King.
(Source: Beacon Roadside, 2016)
Two incidents involving racial discrimination led to Montgomery boycott which was led
by King. He was also arrested and jailed during the campaign. Having gained attention of the
national media, this campaign played a major role in increasing King’s public stature. Following
it, the district court prohibited racial segregation and the blacks resumed to riding the
Montgomery busses again (Teixeira, Spears and Yzerbyt, 2020). This role played by King in the
bus boycott made him assume the position of national figure. He also became spokesman of civil
rights movement. King also led the South Christian Leadership Conference.
Martin Luther King held strong belief that an organized and non – violent protest against
the southern segregation system would be effective in gaining extensive media coverage. He also
believed that it would also bring forward the struggle for equality of black people and their
voting rights. There were journalistic accounts as well as televised footage which showed the
deprivation and indignities suffered by black on a daily basis. It also made people aware about
the harassment of civil rights and segregationist violence. This led to the generation of a wave of
sympathetic public opinion due to which majority if the Americans were convinced about the
relevance of the issue of Civil Rights Movement (Honey, 2018). Various marches were also
organized by King which supported the rights of the black people to vote. These also supported
and promoted that Black people’s rights to desegregation, labour and other civil rights.
2

With various other movements and marches, the leadership of king can be analysed on
the basis of his aim to provoke arrests at mass level so that a crisis packed situation can be
created which could led to negotiation. In this way, it can be analysed that Martin Luther King
was a successful leader who was successful in leading African Americans in a non – violent
manner towards their rights. He was powerful and educated and used both these qualities for
influencing his believers (Joseph, 2020). He possessed string verbal and perceptual ability as
well as critical reason which made him a better leader. He inspired many people with his speech
that was titled as ‘I have a dream’.
Among the many leadership qualities that King had, confidence was important. His
confidence and poise had the power of drawing followers. He led the African American
Community with utmost confidence which made him march forward several times even after
being jailed for 29 times (Livingston, 2020). Leadership of King also portrayed the quality of
being determined. He had the determination to fulfill his dream of being treated equal. Even
during tough times when he was put behind the bars, he did not waiver and successfully
completed his mission of providing equal rights to the black people.
Through these leadership qualities, Martin Luther King was able to raise public
consciousness about racism. He was also able to bring racial discrimination and segregation to an
end in America. With the main goal of racial equality, a series of smaller objectives were framed
by King which involved campaigns as grass root level. Being equipped with both secular and
religious education, King was able to successfully end the laws that upheld segregation. He
further moved on to create an umbrella organization for tackling the issue of segregation in other
communities as well. King could accomplish the objective of playing a leadership role as the
face of civil rights campaign. In addition to this, he was impeccable in his efforts and maintained
a public image that was acceptable to the white majority of America. His image was carefully
cultivated by King so that people portrayed him as a moderate and not a racial extremist. This
further assisted him in encouraging and recruiting a major mass of the white Americans to join
the movement (Shelby, 2018). In this way, King served as a bridge between the different activist
groups.
From the essay it can be concluded that Martin Luther King was a charismatic leader and
an inspiration for the black as well as the white groups in America. Throughout his life he
3

undertook various movements and campaigns to abolish racial discrimination and brought the
issues faced by the black people before the nation. His non- violent approach assisted him in
gaining support and followers are mass level. Thus his dream of fostering equality was fulfilled.
4

REFERENCES
Journals and Books
Honey, M.K., 2018. To the Promised Land: Martin Luther King and the Fight for Economic
Justice. WW Norton & Company.
Joseph, P.E., 2020. The Sword and the Shield: The Revolutionary Lives of Malcolm X and Martin
Luther King Jr. Hachette UK.
Livingston, A., 2020. Power for the powerless: Martin Luther King, Jr.’s late theory of civil
disobedience. The Journal of Politics, 82(2), pp.700-713.
Rogers, L.O., Moffitt, U. and Foo, C., 2021. “Martin Luther King fixed it”: Children making
sense of racial identity in a colorblind society. Child development, 92(5), pp.1817-1835.
Shelby, T., 2018. To Shape a New World: Essays on the Political Philosophy of Martin Luther
King, Jr. Harvard University Press.
Teixeira, C.P., Spears, R. and Yzerbyt, V.Y., 2020. Is Martin Luther King or Malcolm X the
more acceptable face of protest? High-status groups’ reactions to low-status groups’
collective action. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 118(5), p.919.
Online
Bridges, F., 2019. Five Leadership Lessons From Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. [Online]. Available
through: < https://www.forbes.com/sites/francesbridges/2019/01/21/5-leadership-lessons-
from-dr-martin-luther-king-jr/?sh=138fbaf5279f >. [Accessed on 21 January 2022].
Beacon Roadside, 2016. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rosa Parks on the Dangers They Faced in
the Civil Rights Movement. [Online]. Available through: <
https://www.beaconbroadside.com/broadside/2016/01/martin-luther-king-jr-and-rosa-
parks-on-the-dangers-they-faced-in-the-civil-rights-movement.html>. [Accessed on 21
January 2022].
5