While
hatred of white people was fervent among blacks living in the ghetto, there
were still some who believed that the integration of blacks into white society
was still possible and that violent revolution was not the answer. Martin Luther King, Jr., the strong iconic
leader of racial equality, was one of those people. To many, Martin Luther King was a beacon of
hope. As he delivered his famous “I Have
a Dream” speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, a crowd of over 250,000
people, both black and white, looked on (not counting the people across the
nation who were watching the speech on live television). Tragically, when the famed civil rights leader
was assassinated on the 4th of April in 1968, integration was the
last thing on people’s minds. The
assassination of Dr. King outraged blacks, and further fueled their
restlessness. Of the 125 cities in which
riots broke out, the most notable ones after Dr. King’s death were in Baltimore,
Chicago, and Washington D.C. In
Baltimore alone, six people were killed, 700 people were injured, 4,500 people
were arrested, and $13.5 million in property damages was reported. Martin Luther King was just one of the many
assassinations in the 60s, and the future was looking increasingly grim for the
Civil Rights front and for the welfare of the American people in general.
Martin Luther King Jr. shot on balcony of Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee
Attman's Groceries being torched
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