Martin Luther King Jr. assassination conspiracy theories Martin Luther King Jr. assassination conspiracy theories The conspiracy theories relating to the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., a prominent leader of the Civil Rights Movement, relate to different accounts of the assassination that took place on April 4, 1968, in Memphis Tennessee. King was assassinated on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel, one day after giving his final speech: "I've Been to the Mountaintop." Claims soon arose over suspect aspects of King's assassination and the role of the alleged assassin, James Earl Ray. Since MLK's assassin, James Earl Ray, pled guilty early on, there was no trial. Suspicions
Martin Luther King Jr. cities and states beginning in 1971; the holiday was enacted at the federal level by legislation signed by President Ronald Reagan in 1986. Hundreds of streets in the U.S. have been renamed in his honor, and a county in Washington State was also rededicated for him. The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., was dedicated in 2011. King was born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia, to the Reverend Martin Luther King Sr. and Alberta Williams King. King's legal name at birth was Michael King, and his father was also born Michael King,