Forty years ago today, on  4 April 1968, civil rights leader Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. Four years before his death, Martin Luther King, Jr. received the Nobel Peace Prize, becoming the prize's youngest recipient.

At age 39, Dr. King was in Memphis supporting the black Sanitation Workers in their  strike for humane working conditions when he was slain. Consider that Martin Luther King, Jr. has now been dead longer than he was alive. And still his words and dreams live on, and are powerful today.

This photo was taken the day before King died, on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel. Shown (left to right) are Hosea Williams, Jesse Jackson, Jr., Martin Luther King, Jr., and Rev. Ralph Abernathy.

The night before he was slain, Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his speech, I've Been to the Mountaintop, considered to be among the top 100 speeches in United States history. After acknowledging talk of threats on his life, Dr. King concluded his speech with these words.

Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the Promised Land. 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!

And so I'm happy, tonight.

I'm not worried about anything.

I'm not fearing any man!

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord!

A day later Dr. King was shot and killed on the same balcony of the Lorraine Motel pictured above. In this photo, taken by Joseph Louw, Abernathy, Jackson, and others point to where the shots came from, as Dr. King lay dying at their feet.

That evening, with riots breaking out in cities across the nation, Robert Kennedy had the difficult task of telling a campaign rally in Indianapolis of King's death. Officials feared that a riot would break out at the terrible news. Here's part of what Robert Kennedy said that night.

For those of you who are black and are tempted to be filled with hatred and distrust at the injustice of such an act, against all white people, I can only say that I feel in my own heart the same kind of feeling. I had a member of my family killed, but he was killed by a white man. But we have to make an effort in the United States, we have to make an effort to understand, to go beyond these rather difficult times.

My favorite poet was Aeschylus. He wrote: "In our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God."

What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence or lawlessness; but love and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country, whether they be white or they be black.

So I shall ask you tonight to return home, to say a prayer for the family of Martin Luther King, that's true, but more importantly to say a prayer for our own country, which all of us love--a prayer for understanding and that compassion of which I spoke.

Indianapolis was calm that evening, attributed, in part, to Kennedy's plea.

Now, forty years later, please take a moment to reflect on the words and accomplishments of Martin Luther King, Jr. Here are some resources for your exploration of King's life and legacy.

The King Center — MLK Online — National Civil Rights Museum (housed in the former Lorraine Motel, Memphis) — The April 4th Foundation — Speeches of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Free at last, free at last. Thank God Almighty, we are free at last.
— Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.