The Aftermath

Within hours after the shot, outrage over the assassination of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., erupted into violence in cities across the country. Hopelessness, grief, and confusion over the loss of one of the most renowned emissaries of peace fueled the tumult. Less visibly, but with firm resolve, many men and women dedicated themselves to continuing the nonviolent struggle.

In contrast to the fiery turbulence elsewhere, peace prevailed in Memphis - an indication that the local leadership's appeals for calm made a difference. In the meantime, April 4 became April 5, and through the wee hours of the night, representatives of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and the Memphis movement convened here at the Lorraine Motel. They discussed the immediate and difficult questions at hand: would the aftermath of anger and betrayal obscure the interwoven causes of the sanitation workers and of poverty? Could the movement continue nonviolently? Those gathered here determined that it must.

The next morning, they made the announcement - the Poor People's Campaign would not be derailed. Day by day, the SCLC and other major civil rights organizations worked to advance the nonviolent freedom struggle. Day by day, masses of Americans gathered peacefully to remember Dr. King and to show support for the causes he had come to represent.