The Day That Changed Black America

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A man stands in front of the Djingareyber mosque on February 4, 2016 in Timbuktu, central Mali.
Mali's fabled city of Timbuktu on February 4 celebrated the recovery of its historic mausoleums, destroyed during an Islamist takeover of northern Mali in 2012 and rebuilt thanks to UN cultural agency UNESCO.
TO GO WITH AFP STORY BY SEBASTIEN RIEUSSEC / AFP / SÉBASTIEN RIEUSSEC

African Peoples Before Captivity

Shackles from Slave Ship Henrietta Marie

Kidnapped: The Middle Passage

Image of the first black members of Congress

Reconstruction: A Brief Glimpse of Freedom

The Lynching of Laura Nelson_May_1911 200x200

One Hundred Years of Jim Crow

I Am Somebody! The Struggle for Justice

NOW: Free At Last?

Memorial to the Victims of Lynching

The Freedom-Lovers’ Roll Call Wall

Frozen custard in Milwaukee's Bronzeville

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April 4, 2012

king_assasination — Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on a motel balcony

This date marks the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968.

He was shot to death at the Loraine motel in Memphis, TN. He was there to support striking Black garbage workers. News of the assassination resulted in an outpouring of sorrow and anger all over the world and riots broke out in more than 100 American cities.

Read more about Dr. King here.

Learn about other civil rights leaders in our online exhibits.

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