On April 4, 1968, between the hours of 6:08 pm and 7:05 pm, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated at the Lorraine Motel and later pronounced dead at St. Joseph Hospital in Memphis. Though it's been 48 years since that fatal shot rang out, in many ways the reverberations are felt no less strongly today, as if in fact it's all been just one long day merely punctuated by sleep. It gives me chills that Dr. King was acutely aware of his mortality just the day before he spoke these words from what would be his last speech, "I've Been to the Mountaintop":
"Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn't matter with me now, because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live - a long life; longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land. So I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord."
— Martin Luther King, Jr., April 3, 1968