Assassination of MLK

• • Martin Luther King was preparing for a march in Tennessee to support refuse collectors, called the ‘Poor People’s Campaign’.
  • On 4th April 1968, he was shot dead on the balcony of his hotel room
• • His assassination led to riots in hundreds of cities which led to a $45 million cost in damage.
  • This lost the civil rights movement some white support
• • The Poor People’s Campaign failed because of arguments within the SCLC and poor weather meaning people weren’t willing to protest out outside Capitol in Washington
• • The 1968 Civil Rights Act was passed quickly, making housing fairer and protecting civil rights activists, but also increasing the punishment for rioting
  • Many white people saw the movement as done, so became less supportive
• • Without King, many white people felt they had nobody in CRM to relate to, and to oppose the more violent approaches for equality
• • The SNCC changed their name from ‘non-violent’ to ‘national’ so lost a lot of support from their original members