Historical marker to commemorate Dr. King’s final flight
March 29 2017 - 04:00PM
A historical marker commemorating the final flight of Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr. will be dedicated at Memphis International Airport
on April 3. Former congressman and United Nations ambassador Andrew
Young, King’s chief aide and confidante, will speak at the event.
Young was with the civil rights leader on that final flight and
when King was assassinated on April 4, 1968, in Memphis.
Also participating will be John Hope Bryant, founder and CEO of
national nonprofit Operation HOPE, and Memphis Mayor Jim
Strickland. The ceremony will begin at 9 a.m. in the airport’s B
ticketing lobby.
King, who promoted civil rights activism through nonviolence,
arrived in Memphis on the morning of April 3, 1968, on Eastern
Airlines Flight 381. Later that day he delivered his “I’ve Been to
the Mountaintop” sermon at Mason Temple Church of God in
Christ.
On April 4 as King stood on a second-floor balcony at the
Lorraine Motel in Downtown Memphis, he was shot by James Earl Ray
at 6:01 p.m. After emergency surgery at nearby St. Joseph’s
Hospital, King was pronounced dead an hour later.
The marker will be dedicated on the 49th anniversary of King’s
last flight and begin a series of events throughout Memphis leading
up to the observance of the 50th anniversary of his death in
2018.
Andrew Young will be in Memphis filming the Andrew Young
Presents documentary, From Civil Rights to Silver Rights: Where Do
We Go From Here – Chaos or Community? Continuing the Unfinished
Work of the Poor People’s Campaign.
The historical marker is sponsored by First Tennessee Bank,
which is part of First Horizon National Corp. (NYSE:FHN).
FHN-G
Contact:
Glen Thomas (901) 922-8301 GThomas@FlyMemphis.com
James Dowd (901) 523-4305 JEDowd@FirstTennessee.com
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