LIFE - LIFE EXCLUSIVE! The Day MLK Died

LIFE Presents: Never-Before-Published Photos From Memphis, April 4, 1968

Tue, 29 Mar 1966 03:00:00 EST

On April 4, 1968, LIFE photographer Henry Groskinsky and writer Mike Silva, on assignment in Alabama, learned that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., had been shot at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis. They raced to the scene and there, incredibly, had unfettered access to the hotel grounds, Dr. King's room, and the surrounding area. For reasons that have been lost in the intervening years, the photographs taken that night and the next day were never published. Until now.

The Sign at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, April 4, 1968

Thu, 04 Apr 1968 03:00:00 EST

LIFE asked Henry Groskinsky, now 75, to look back on that night 41 years ago and recall what it felt like to chronicle one of the most somber days in American history. Pictured: The eerily empty streets around the Lorraine Motel in the hours after Dr. King's assassination. "I was surprised at how desolate it all was," Groskinsky says of the Lorraine's Memphis neighborhood. "But then, people probably thought that the person who shot Dr. King might still be out there somewhere."

The Balcony at the Lorraine Motel

Thu, 04 Apr 1968 03:00:00 EST

Colleagues gather on the balcony outside room 306, just a few feet from where Dr. King was shot. Groskinsky remembers that "the people at the Lorraine were annoyed that the media was talking about how there were going to be all these demonstrations. Eventually there were, but not there. Not that night. It was very quiet. I was afraid that it was going to change."

In Martin Luther King's Room at the Lorraine Motel

Thu, 04 Apr 1968 03:00:00 EST

Stunned, silent members of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in Dr. King's room, including Andrew Young (far left, under table lamp) and the civil rights leader and King's colleague, Reverend Ralph Abernathy, seated in the middle on the far bed. "I was very discreet. I shot just enough to document what was going on. I didn't want to make a nuisance of myself. And right there, almost in the center of the picture, in the mirror you can see the reflection of me taking the picture. It's very somber, and there I am with a flash camera. So I took a couple of pictures and just kind of backed off."

Dr. King's Friends Console Each Other

Thu, 04 Apr 1968 03:00:00 EST

Ralph Abernathy and Will D. Campbell, a long-time friend and civil rights activist, embrace in Dr. King's room. "I was documenting a momentous event, and I thought that at any time I was going to be asked to leave, so I did what I could as quickly as I could."

Cleaning His Blood at the Lorraine Motel

Thu, 04 Apr 1968 03:00:00 EST

Outside of room 306, Theatrice Bailey, the brother of the motel's owner, sweeps blood from the balcony. "I have to tell you, there was no friction with the people there at the Lorraine, even though here was this White man with a camera on the scene."

Across the Street From the Lorraine Motel

Thu, 04 Apr 1968 03:00:00 EST

A photo taken through tree branches by Groskinsky from a derelict building across the street from the Lorraine, very close to where the shot that killed Dr. King likely came from. "I stood on top of the commode in the bathroom of that abandoned building in order to take the pictures out of the window. It was less than 100 yards from where I was to where Dr. King must have been standing."

Where the Assassin Stood

Thu, 04 Apr 1968 03:00:00 EST

The building on the left is the abandoned building from which Groskinsky took several of his photographs on the night of April 4; the building on the right is likely the house from which James Earl Ray shot Dr. King. "The atmosphere of those dark, creepy buildings ... It was a little scary crawling into the building, because who knows who is going to be there? Who doesn't want you to be there?"

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Briefcase, Room 306, the Lorraine Motel

Thu, 04 Apr 1968 03:00:00 EST

King's neatly packed, monogrammed briefcase in his room at the Lorraine. "That is Dr. King's briefcase, just as it was. His brush. His pajamas. That's a can of shaving cream there on top. And you can see his book, 'Strength to Love,' peeping from the pocket."

Cleaning the Last of the Blood From the Balcony

Thu, 04 Apr 1968 03:00:00 EST

Theatrice Bailey attempts to clean blood from the balcony, hours after the 6 p.m. shooting. "I don't know if there were official people around taking notes and pictures and things like that. Nobody was there when we were there. And the fact that the blood was still on the floor, and this man is actually putting it in a jar ... When you see a picture like that, God, it feels invasive."

The Plane That Would Take Dr. King's Remains to Montgomery

Thu, 04 Apr 1968 03:00:00 EST

An airplane dispatched by the U.S. government to retrieve Dr. King's body and return it to Atlanta, Georgia, waits on the tarmac in Memphis. "Here we were, two White guys in the Deep South right after the murder of the preeminent leader of the black community, and we're taking pictures. Voyeurs, in a sense. We were apprehensive about it. But when we got there, there were no big problems for us."

Alone After Dr. King's Death

Thu, 04 Apr 1968 03:00:00 EST

Will D. Campbell, alone on the motel balcony, gazing out into the night. "This photograph was probably made almost as soon as we got there, because there were a lot of people milling about in the dark, and then all of a sudden it cleared up. When I saw him standing there, alone, I thought to myself, 'Wow.' This isn't a posed picture. He's in deep pain, standing there by himself, as if asking, 'My God, what has happened here?'" See photos of significant and triumphant moments from Dr. King's life.