April 4, 1968: Martin Luther King Jr.'s Death and How It Changed America

On April 4, 1968, at 6:01 PM, while he was standing on a balcony at a Memphis hotel, Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot and fatally wounded. Only hours earlier King -- the prophet for racial and economic justice in America -- ended his final speech with the words, "I may not get there with you, but I want you to know tonight, that we as a people will get to the Promised Land."

Acclaimed public intellectual and best-selling author Michael Eric Dyson uses the fortieth anniversary of King's assa...