The Death of the Dream:
The Day Martin Luther King Was Shot
Left to right: Hosea Williams, Jesse Jackson, Martin Luther King Jr., Rev. Ralph David Abernathy on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel Memphis hotel, a day before King's assassination. April 3, 1968.
The picture above has been shown millions of times. King, the day before his death, greeting his supporters. What is not publicly known is what happened the night before his death. Newsweek magazine from January 19, 1998 gives you a small glimpse of the real Martin Luther King Jr.
Pillar of Fire: America in the King Years,
1963-65.
(book reviews) Jon Meacham
01/19/98 Newsweek, Page 62
January 6, 1964, was a long day for Martin Luther King Jr. He spent the morning seated in
the reserved section of the Supreme Court, listening as lawyers argued New York Times Co.
v. Sullivan, a landmark case rising out of King's crusade against segregation in Alabama. The
minister was something of an honored guest: Justice Arthur Goldberg quietly sent down a copy
of Kings account of the Montgomery bus boycott, "Stride Toward Freedom," asking for
an autograph. That night King retired to his room at the Willard Hotel. There FBI bugs
reportedly picked up 14 hours of party chatter, the clinking of glasses and the sounds of
illicit sex--including King's cries of "I'm f--ing for God" and "I'm not a
Negro tonight!"
Note: What is not mentioned in this article is that Martin Luther King was having sex with three White women, one of whom he brutally beat while screaming the above mentioned quotes. Much of the public information on King's use of church money to hire prostitutes and his beating them came from King's close personal friend, Rev. Ralph Abernathy (pictured above), in his 1989 book, "And the walls came tumbling down."
Sources:
Newsweek Magazine 1-19-1998, page 62
"And the walls came tumbling down," by Rev. Ralph Abernathy (1989)
