1968: The Global Revolutions

The assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in April 1968, while he was in Memphis, supporting striking garbage workers, seemed to mark the end of nonviolence as a viable strategy for people across the movement. Having publicly denounced the Vietnam War, proclaimed himself a democratic socialist, and aligned increasingly with labor organizations, King had been moving toward ever-more radical positions, and remained at the time of his death the most visible civil rights leader in the country. News of his assassination sparked uprisings in 125 American cities, where troops were deployed to protect property and contain protests.