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History & Timeline

Timeline: King’s Last Seven Days

Remembering MLK: The Man. The Movement. The Moment.

These are the seven days the museum marks, from Thursday, March 28, through Wednesday, April 3, 1968. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. came to Memphis for the sanitation workers’ strike, left after a march turned violent, and returned to give the last speech of his life.

Day 1 Thursday

March 28, 1968

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., arms linked with fellow marchers, in a crowd on a Memphis street lined with shop signs. — Dr. King in the March 28 march on a Memphis street. He and the Rev. James Lawson called the march off after it turned violent.

March 28, 1968

King in Memphis

Dr. King arrived in Memphis at 11 a.m. to lead a march for the sanitation workers’ strike. In February a garbage truck had crushed two workers, Echol Cole and Robert Walker, to death. More than 1,100 of the city’s Black sanitation workers then walked out. They wanted safer equipment, better pay, and recognition of their union. A march set for March 22 had been postponed by a snowstorm, so this was the day.

He found the crowd already on edge. City officials estimated that 22,000 students had skipped school to join. With the Rev. James Lawson, King started the march and then called it off as windows broke and looting began. Supporters got him into a car and took him to the Holiday Inn Rivermont. Police moved through the crowds with nightsticks, mace, tear gas, and gunfire. About 60 people were injured, most of them Black, and about 280 were arrested. Officers followed marchers back to Clayborn Temple, released tear gas inside the sanctuary, and struck people who had gone there for safety.

A helmeted police officer swings a nightstick at a man bent over on a sidewalk, while a young man sits on the pavement in front of a broken store window. — Memphis police on the street after the March 28 march turned violent.

March 28, 1968

Hands Up, Don’t Shoot!

About an hour after the march ended, Memphis police officer Leslie Dean Jones shot and killed 16-year-old Larry Payne at the housing project where Payne lived. Jones said Payne came out of a basement holding a knife. People who saw the shooting said they did not see a knife. A Shelby County grand jury did not charge Jones.

March 28, 1968

The National Guard’s Presence

That evening, Mayor Henry Loeb called for martial law. About 4,000 National Guard troops moved into the city, and a 7 p.m. curfew took effect.

Day 2 Friday

March 29, 1968

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gestures as he speaks into a cluster of news microphones. — Dr. King at his March 29 press conference in Memphis. He left for Atlanta that afternoon and said he would come back.

March 29, 1968

King and the Media

From the Holiday Inn Rivermont, King held a press conference. He insisted that a nonviolent march could still work in Memphis. He told reporters he had not known how divided the city was, including the presence of the Invaders, a local Black youth group accused of starting the violence the day before.

He and the Rev. Ralph Abernathy left for Atlanta at 3 p.m. King promised to return.

The strike’s own march went on that day. More than 200 sanitation workers walked in silence from Clayborn Temple with signs that read “I AM A MAN.” National Guard troops escorted them.

Day 3 Saturday

March 30, 1968

Conflict in the Crisis

The failed march split the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the organization King led. In Atlanta that Saturday he met his executive staff, including Ralph Abernathy, Andrew Young, Jesse Jackson, James Bevel, Walter Fauntroy, and Hosea Williams. Many wanted the staff to turn toward the Poor People’s Campaign planned for Washington. King argued that a march in Washington depended on standing with the sanitation workers in Memphis. The staff agreed to support his return the following week.

Day 4 Sunday

March 31, 1968

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. speaking forcefully, one fist clenched in front of him. — Dr. King preaching. On March 31, 1968, he delivered “Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution” at Washington National Cathedral.

March 31, 1968

King’s Last Sermon

On Sunday, King preached his last Sunday sermon at Washington National Cathedral. He called it “Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution.” He spoke about economic justice for Black Americans, about human rights at home and withdrawal from Vietnam, and he promised that the Poor People’s march would be orderly and nonviolent.

March 31, 1968

Johnson Declines Re-election

That evening, President Lyndon B. Johnson announced that he would neither seek nor accept his party’s nomination for another term.

Day 5 Monday

April 1, 1968

Two men bend face-down over the trunk of a car while helmeted officers stand around them. — Two of the many people arrested in Black neighborhoods after the March 28 march. Mayor Henry Loeb lifted the 7 p.m. curfew on April 1.

April 1, 1968

City Curfew

Mayor Loeb lifted the citywide 7 p.m. curfew that had been set after the violence of March 28.

Day 6 Tuesday

April 2, 1968

Larry Payne, a teenager in a striped cardigan, seated on a sofa. — Larry Payne, whose funeral was held at Clayborn Temple on April 2, 1968. Photo courtesy of Carolyn Payne.

April 2, 1968

The Funeral of Larry Payne

Hundreds of mourners gathered at Clayborn Temple for the funeral of Larry Payne, the 16-year-old killed by Memphis police on March 28. The Rev. B. T. Dumas delivered the eulogy. The National Guard was withdrawn the same day.

Day 7 Wednesday

April 3, 1968

Hosea Williams, Jesse Jackson, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Ralph Abernathy stand at the railing of the Lorraine Motel balcony. — April 3, 1968, on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel. Left to right: Hosea Williams, Jesse Jackson, Dr. King, and Ralph Abernathy. King checked into Room 306, where he spent his last hours. He was killed on this balcony the next day.

April 3, 1968

King Returns to Memphis

9:00 a.m. King, the Rev. Ralph Abernathy, Andrew Young, Bernard Lee, and Dorothy Cotton boarded Eastern Airlines flight 381 for Memphis. A bomb threat delayed the departure. In Atlanta the plane was searched for more than an hour.

10:33 a.m. King and the others arrived at Gate 17 of Memphis International Airport.

11:20 a.m. They reached the Lorraine Motel and were met by other members of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. King checked into Room 306.

April 3, 1968

King Strategizes the March

12:05 p.m. King and the staff met to plan the next march at Centenary United Methodist Church, where the Rev. James Lawson was pastor. Lawson had led the March 28 march with him.

2:48 p.m. Back at the Lorraine, King was served an order in the courtyard barring the march. That morning, U.S. District Judge Bailey Brown had issued a temporary restraining order. The march it blocked was the one planned for Monday, April 8.

4:00 p.m. King and the staff met the Invaders, the youth group accused of setting off the March 28 violence, in Room 307.

April 3, 1968

The Speech That Almost Didn’t Happen

7:00 p.m. King felt ill. He had a sore throat and a slight fever, and he sent Abernathy, Andrew Young, and Jesse Jackson to the mass meeting at Mason Temple in his place.

8:15 p.m. Abernathy, Jackson, and Young reached Bishop Charles Mason Temple. Hundreds of people had come through bad weather expecting to hear King. Abernathy called him and urged him to come.

9:30 p.m. King arrived to a standing ovation and delivered “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop,” the last public speech of his life.

I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land.

The following afternoon

At 7:05 p.m.

The next afternoon, April 4, King stepped onto the balcony outside Room 306 as he was getting ready to leave for dinner at the home of the Rev. Samuel “Billy” Kyles. A single shot hit him there. An ambulance took him to St. Joseph’s Hospital, where doctors pronounced him dead at 7:05 p.m.

James Earl Ray later confessed and was sentenced to 99 years. He took the confession back soon after, and arguments about the case did not end. The hour the museum’s timeline stops on is the hour of the pronouncement: 7:05 p.m.