April 1968

Dr. King was shot at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis while supporting striking sanitation workers. His assassination triggered uprisings in 110 cities, accelerated the passage of the Fair Housing Act, and transformed the civil rights movement. He was 39 years old.

Signed by President Johnson one week after King's assassination, the Civil Rights Act of 1968 prohibited discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of housing. Passed in the climate of grief and urban uprisings, it completed the major legislative achievements of the civil rights era.

Signed one week after King's assassination, the Civil Rights Act of 1968 prohibited discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of housing, completing the major legislative achievements of the civil rights era.

Black students from the Student Afro-American Society occupied Hamilton Hall, demanding a halt to construction of a university gym in Harlem and amnesty for six activists. The protest — part of broader campus upheavals — forced university administrators to cancel the gymnasium project.