509. America in '68: The Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. (Part 2)

The Rest Is History

Goalhanger

History

4.6 • 18.6K Ratings

🗓️ 31 October 2024

⏱️ 62 minutes

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Summary

The peaceful figurehead of the Civil Rights movement in the early 1960s, Dr Martin Luther King had inspired hundreds of thousands to demand equal rights for African Americans. But by 1968, the once uniting leader seemed to be losing popularity, both amongst activists and in the press. As he grappled with being hunted and threatened by the FBI, he was also contending with a new generation of more militant activists who felt that his nonviolent approach was not working. Downtrodden but not defeated, King plans a new Poor People’s Campaign to combat poverty in America. As part of this new focus, he visits Memphis to support striking sanitation workers. The day before his final moments at the Lorraine Motel, he preaches to a crowd, ‘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.’ Join Dominic and Tom as they discuss the tragic assassination of Martin Luther King, including the public outcry that ensued, and his more recent legacy as a secular saint in the USA with a dedicated national holiday. _______ *The Rest Is History LIVE in the U.S.A.* If you live in the States, we've got some great news: Tom and Dominic will be performing throughout America in November, with shows in San Francisco, L.A., Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Boston and New York. Tickets on sale now at TheRestIsHistory.com _______ Twitter: @TheRestHistory @holland_tom @dcsandbrook Producer: Theo Young-Smith Assistant Producer: Anouska Lewis Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Thank you for listening to the rest is history.
0:02.2	For weekly bonus episodes, add free listening, early access to series and membership
0:07.3	of our much-love chat community, go to the rest is history.com and join the club. That is, the rest is History. is History.
0:15.0	The Rest is History.
0:16.0	. . . . . . . . Ladies and gentlemen, I'm only going to talk to you just for a minute or so this evening,
0:32.2	because I have some very sad news for all of you.
0:35.7	And I think sad news for all of our fellow citizens
0:40.5	and people who love peace all over the world, and that is that Martin Luther King was shot and was killed tonight in Memphis, Tennessee.
0:51.0	Martin Luther King dedicated his life to love and to justice between fellow human beings.
0:59.5	He died in the cause of that effort.
1:02.4	In this difficult day, in this difficult time for the United States,
1:07.0	it's perhaps well to ask what kind of a nation we are and what direction we want to move in.
1:14.1	For those of you who are black, you can be filled with bitterness and with hatred and a desire
1:20.4	for revenge.
1:21.9	We can move in that direction as a country in greater
1:24.8	polarization, black people amongst blacks and white amongst whites filled with
1:31.8	hatred toward one another or we can make an effort as modern
1:36.0	Luther King did to understand and to comprehend and replace that violence,
1:43.8	that stain of bloodshed that has spread across our land
1:47.9	with an effort to understand compassion and
1:59.0	that was Robert F Kennedy on the 4th of April 1968, speaking to a crowd in Indianapolis,
2:01.0	a crowd that was largely black and who when Bobby Kennedy stood up to give
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