--- title: Martin Luther King Jr's Assassination: Read 9 Moving Responses description: TIME readers wrote to the magazine in the aftermath of the 1968 crime canonical: https://time.com/3758959/mlk-assassination-letters/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-04-04T15:00:13.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:59:34.904Z article:section: History og:title: Martin Luther King Jr's Assassination: Read 9 Moving Responses og:description: TIME readers wrote to the magazine in the aftermath of the 1968 crime og:url: https://time.com/3758959/mlk-assassination-letters/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2268a2204391fead/6987854c06f2c1c0e53349c0/1101570218_400.jpg?branch=production&width=828&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Feb. 18, 1957 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Martin Luther King Jr's Assassination: Read 9 Moving Responses twitter:description: TIME readers wrote to the magazine in the aftermath of the 1968 crime twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2268a2204391fead/6987854c06f2c1c0e53349c0/1101570218_400.jpg?branch=production&width=828&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 9 Moving Reactions to Martin Luther King Jr.'s 1968 Assassination ## Video: The March on Washington: The Movement Begins [Watch (HLS stream): The March on Washington: The Movement Begins](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/eYWENlb4.m3u8) (6:26)  _Published 2014-04-07. The March on Washington was a peaceful demonstration for racial equality. But it would not have happened without the beatings, arrests and violent struggle for civil rights that had already engulfed the Deep South._  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Apr 4, 2015 3:00 PM UTC  King's first appearance on the cover of TIME, on Feb. 18, 1957 King's first appearance on the cover of TIME, on Feb. 18, 1957Cover Credit: BORIS CHALIAPIN  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Apr 4, 2015 3:00 PM UTC When Martin Luther King Jr. was shot and killed in Memphis on April 4, 1968, it was, TIME declared, “both a symbol and a symptom of the nation’s racial malaise.” King had been in the Tennessee city to support a garbage-collectors’ strike, and was staying at an inexpensive motel, having been chastened for originally booking a stay at a place perceived as too fancy. He stepped out onto the motel “to take the evening air,” per TIME, and talk with co-workers. It was then that a bullet left a nearby building and found the civil-rights leader. In the tumultuous weeks that followed the assassination, TIME readers responded with a flood of letters to the editor. Some of the most moving, from the [April 19](http://time.com/vault/issue/1968-04-19/page/12/) and [April 26](http://time.com/vault/issue/1968-04-26/page/21/) issues, are below. From Joyce K. Laird of Lafayette, Calif.: --- > “” --- From John Barry of Los Angeles: --- > “” --- From James Thompson, a pastor in West Branch, Iowa: --- > “” --- From Dorothy S. Saunders of Cherry Hill, N.J.: --- > “” --- From Douglas P. Adams, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology: --- > “” --- From Deborah Preble of Pasadena, Calif.: --- > “” --- From Mrs. John Vadnais of St. Paul: --- > “” --- From Rev. Lewis P. Bohler Jr. of Los Angeles: --- > “” --- From P. Sudhir of Madras, India: --- > “” --- **_Read TIME’s full coverage of the assassination, here in the TIME Vault:_** [April 12, 1968](http://time.com/vault/issue/1968-04-12/page/1/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3758959/mlk-assassination-letters/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3758959/mlk-assassination-letters/"},"headline":"9 Moving Reactions to Martin Luther King Jr.'s 1968 Assassination","datePublished":"2015-04-04T15:00:13.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:59:34.904Z","description":"TIME readers wrote to the magazine in the aftermath of the 1968 crime","url":"https://time.com/3758959/mlk-assassination-letters/","keywords":["Civil Rights","Assassination","MLK","martin luther king jr"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2268a2204391fead/6987854c06f2c1c0e53349c0/1101570218_400.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2268a2204391fead/6987854c06f2c1c0e53349c0/1101570218_400.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Feb. 18, 1957","caption":"Feb. 18, 1957","creditText":"Cover Credit: BORIS CHALIAPIN","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/civil-rights/","name":"Civil Rights"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3758959/mlk-assassination-letters/","name":"9 Moving Reactions to Martin Luther King Jr.'s 1968 Assassination"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"The March on Washington: The Movement Begins","description":"The March on Washington was a peaceful demonstration for racial equality. 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