King Assassinated: Civil Rights Movement Galvanized by Tragedy
James Earl Ray fled across the Atlantic using a forged Canadian passport, only to stumble at London's Heathrow Airport when an agent spotted his name on a police watchlist. British officials quickly extradited him to Tennessee, where he confessed to Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination and accepted a 99-year prison sentence. This immediate capture ensured the nation received a definitive legal resolution rather than leaving the killer at large.
March 10, 1969
57 years ago
Key Figures & Places
What Else Happened on March 10
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