Martin Luther King, Jr. Honored on 45th Anniversary of Assassination

Marches and candlelight vigils were held across the United States Thursday on the 45th anniversary of the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr.

A wreath was laid in front of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, where King preached. 

King also was honored during a candlelight vigil at his memorial in Washington.

A march in Memphis, Tennessee, where King was killed, featured some of the garbage collectors who went on strike in 1968 against working conditions.

King went to Memphis 45 years ago Thursday to support the strikers. White supremacist James Earl Ray shot King with a rife as King stood on a balcony of a motel, which is now a civil rights museum.


King's murder sparked days of riots in big cities across the country. Ray was captured and died in prison in 1998.