MLK 60th Assassination Anniversary

What this countdown tracks

The 60th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. — Tuesday, April 4, 2028. The civil rights leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate was shot at 18:01 CST on April 4, 1968 on the second-floor balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. Commemorations are expected at the National Civil Rights Museum (built around the Lorraine Motel) and at the King Center in Atlanta.

About this anniversary

Martin Luther King Jr. (1929–1968) led the American civil rights movement from his emergence as a national leader during the 1955–56 Montgomery Bus Boycott through his assassination on April 4, 1968. King was awarded the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize at age 35 — the youngest laureate at that time. His "I Have a Dream" speech at the Lincoln Memorial on August 28, 1963, his Letter from Birmingham Jail in April 1963, his 1965 Selma–Montgomery march, his March 1968 Memphis sanitation workers' march, and his April 3, 1968 "I've Been to the Mountaintop" speech at the Mason Temple — delivered the night before his assassination — are foundational documents of American moral and political life.

King was shot by James Earl Ray, a fugitive at the time, who fired a single shot from a Remington rifle from the bathroom window of a flophouse across from the Lorraine Motel. King died at St. Joseph's Hospital at 19:05 CST. His death triggered the largest civil disorder in modern American history — riots in 110 US cities, with major destruction in Washington DC, Chicago, Baltimore, Kansas City and Louisville, killing 43 people. The Civil Rights Act of 1968 (the Fair Housing Act), which had been languishing in Congress, was passed within a week. Ray was arrested at Heathrow Airport in June 1968, pleaded guilty in 1969, recanted, and died in prison in 1998 still maintaining doubts about his role; the King family endorsed his recantation but the FBI's official position remained unchanged.

The 60th anniversary in 2028 is significant because it is one of the last major round-number anniversaries likely to involve significant numbers of personally-remembering eyewitnesses. The youngest civil-rights-movement participants from 1968 are now in their late 70s and 80s; King's children — Yolanda (1955–2007), Martin Luther King III (b. 1957), Dexter Scott King (b. 1961, died 2024), and Bernice King (b. 1963) — are themselves senior advocates of his legacy. The 60th is expected to be substantially larger than the 50th in 2018 and to coincide with major civil rights legislative anniversaries.

What to expect

The principal commemoration is at the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis. The museum, opened in 1991, preserves Room 306 (where King stayed) and Room 307 (the room next door), and the balcony with a wreath marking the assassination spot. The April 4, 2028 anniversary will feature the museum's annual MLK Bell Ringing ceremony at 18:01 CST — the moment of the shot — and a major civil-rights legacy programme.

In Atlanta, the King Center — established by Coretta Scott King in 1968 and now run by Bernice King — coordinates a national programme. The center sits on Auburn Avenue alongside Ebenezer Baptist Church (where King was co-pastor) and the King Birth Home. Annual MLK Day commemorations on the third Monday of January are larger, but April 4 carries specific weight at the King Center.

In Washington DC, the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial on the National Mall — opened in 2011 between the Lincoln Memorial and the Jefferson Memorial — is the focal point. The 30-foot Stone of Hope sculpture, with King emerging from a granite block inscribed with quotations, draws visitors year-round; April 4 ceremonies are organised by the National Park Service. In Selma, Birmingham, Montgomery and the other Alabama civil rights sites, parallel anniversary programmes are held.

International observance is significant. The UK's Faith in Leeds programme; Germany's Berlin and Frankfurt civil-rights education centres; South Africa's Liliesleaf Farm and Constitution Hill; and major American universities (Morehouse, Howard, Boston University, Spelman, Tuskegee) coordinate observance.

Past anniversaries

• April 4, 2023 — 55th anniversary
• April 4, 2018 — 50th anniversary; major National Civil Rights Museum programme
• April 4, 2008 — 40th anniversary
• April 4, 1998 — 30th anniversary; James Earl Ray died eight days later
• April 4, 1988 — 20th anniversary
• April 4, 1978 — 10th anniversary

How to follow

The National Civil Rights Museum, the King Center, the National Park Service Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, and the King Birth Home (an NPS site) publish their full anniversary programmes. C-SPAN, PBS, and the major American broadcasters cover the principal Memphis ceremony. The King Center streams Atlanta programming. The King Library at Stanford and the Morehouse King Collection publish digital archives.

Related countdowns

The MLK 60th-assassination anniversary aligns with the Gandhi 80th death anniversary 2028 — King famously studied Gandhi's non-violence philosophy in the 1950s and visited India in 1959. See also Voyager 50th anniversary 2027, Elvis 50th death anniversary 2027, the broader 9/11 25th anniversary 2026 cycle, and the Princess Diana 30th anniversary 2027 countdown.

FAQ

When is the MLK 60th-assassination anniversary? Tuesday, April 4, 2028. Where was he assassinated? On the second-floor balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, at 18:01 CST on April 4, 1968. What's the principal commemorative site? The National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel, opened in 1991, with Room 306 and the balcony preserved. When is the annual moment of silence? 18:01 CST — the moment of the shot — at the National Civil Rights Museum's annual Bell Ringing ceremony.