<P> Rev. James Lawson invited King to Memphis, Tennessee, in March 1968 to support a sanitation workers' strike . These workers launched a campaign for union representation after two workers were accidentally killed on the job, and King considered their struggle to be a vital part of the Poor People's Campaign he was planning . </P> <P> A day after delivering his stirring "I've Been to the Mountaintop" sermon, which has become famous for his vision of American society, King was assassinated on April 4, 1968 . Riots broke out in black neighborhoods in more than 110 cities across the United States in the days that followed, notably in Chicago, Baltimore, and in Washington, D.C. </P> <P> The day before King's funeral, April 8, Coretta Scott King and three of the King children led 20,000 marchers through the streets of Memphis, holding signs that read, "Honor King: End Racism" and "Union Justice Now". Armed National Guardsmen lined the streets, sitting on M - 48 tanks, to protect the marchers, and helicopters circled overhead . On April 9, Mrs. King led another 150,000 people in a funeral procession through the streets of Atlanta . Her dignity revived courage and hope in many of the Movement's members, cementing her place as the new leader in the struggle for racial equality . </P> <P> Coretta Scott King said, </P>

The reasons and origins of the civil rights movement in the usa