Mourners Weep Fallen Hero, Dr. M. L. King

Abstract

Article from the Indianapolis Recorder providing details of the funeral service for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on April 9, 1968 in Atlanta, Georgia. A crowd of 150,000 people gathered at Ebenezer Baptist Church and then walked to Morehouse College for the final funeral services. People from all walks of life attended the funeral. The article mentions in particular the story of Eddie Sherman, a white student at the University of Texas, who hitchhiked the 300 miles from Dallas to Atlanta to pay his last respects to Dr. King.The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. (January 15, 1929–April 4, 1968) was a Nobel Laureate, Baptist minister, and African American civil rights activist. King was instrumental in the founding of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in 1957, a group created to organize Civil Rights activism. On October 14, 1964, King became the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, which was awarded to him for leading non-violent resistance to end racial prejudice in the United States. On April 4, 1968, King was shot and killed as he stood on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee