40th Anniversary of Martin Luther King Assassination
April 2008 marks the 40th anniversary of both the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (he was shot April 4, 1968, on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis), and the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1968 (also known as the Fair Housing Act), which prohibits discrimination in the sale, rental and financing of housing based on race, religion, national origin, sex and family status.
President Lyndon Baines Johnson signing Civil Rights Bill, April 11, 1968
In a 1967 speech he urged Americans to be “dissatisfied until slums are cast into the junk heaps of history, and every family is living in a decent sanitary home.” From 1966-1967 Congress considered but failed to pass the Fair Housing Act. When Dr. King was assassinated, President Johnson urged for the bill’s quick passage and it was signed into law seven days later, in time for Dr. King’s funeral.
Book Recommendations:
A Nation of Immigrants, by John Fitzgerald Kennedy
I Have a Dream, by Martin Luther King Jr.
