The new Life.com features a collection of never-before-published photos of the events in the hours immediately following Martin Luther King Jr.’s murder at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis. Here’s an AP story about the photos.
At my personal Facebook page, where I posted a link to the gallery, novelist Vinita Hampton Wright made the observation, “How ordinary the setting of such a pivotal event.” And I agree. I was especially fascinated by the image of King’s SCLC colleagues gathered in the small motel room after his death. It reminded me of the mood in the house when, as a little boy, I accompanied my parents to the home of a family friend who had just passed away. You can feel the awful silence in the room, that sense of feeling lost but having no other choice but to carry on.
Tomorrow marks the forty-first anniversary of Dr. King’s death.
See the gallery below to preview the photos, but you’ll need to visit Life.com to view them in full detail.