April 3, 2009

Life Publishes New Photos of the Aftermath of the Rev. King Assassination Online

Life magazine recently posted previously unpublished photographs of the aftermath of the 1968 assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. on its website. The photos had languished for decades in magazine's archives.

About a dozen black-and-white pictures that went online include scenes of King's associates meeting solemnly in the civil rights leader's motel room and standing on the balcony where he stood for the last time, and workers cleaning the last of the blood. April 4 is the 41st anniversary of the assassination.

According to the magazine’s website:
“On April 4, 1968, LIFE photographer Henry Groskinsky and writer Mike Silva, on assignment in Alabama, learned that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., had been shot at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis. They raced to the scene and there, incredibly, had unfettered access to the hotel grounds, Dr. King's room, and the surrounding area. For reasons that have been lost in the intervening years, the photographs taken that night and the next day were never published. Until now.”

[via Yahoo News]

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