Tuesday marks 55th year since MLK’s assassination

ALBANY, Ga. (WALB) - Tuesday marks the 55th year since the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.

King’s visit during the Albany Civil Rights movement brought it to national attention. Two Albany Civil Rights pillars in Albany said King’s death saddened and angered them.

“He brought the news cameras from all over the world to Albany, Ga., and what was a regional news story, became a world news story,” Frank Wilson, an Albany historian, said.

Wilson said that we need to correct the idea the movement in Albany failed. But rather what MLK learned from Albany influenced his movements in Selma, Birmingham and, eventually, the March on Washington. He vividly remembers the day that MLK was fatally shot.

“I was a senior in college during my student teaching and was having dinner sitting down at a table. The news came over the television and we kind of stopped in the middle of dinner because we could not believe the news,” Wilson said.

Rutha Harris, one of the original Freedom Singers, said she also remembers the day King was killed.

“How well do I remember that day? All I could do was cry, because on that day, I believe the world changed greatly,” Harris said.

Harris remembers King’s assassination as one of the saddest days in America. She also remembers what it’s like to be in the spotlight as someone who was at the frontlines of the Civil Rights Movement.

“There is still much work to do because freedom is a constant struggle,” Harris said.

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