Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Left Us 40 Years Ago Today

"Marches to honor the legacy of MLK" from AP reports that the nation will be honoring the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who was slain forty years ago today.

"Martin Luther King: An Assassination Remembered" from TIME

"Here was a man who understood nonviolence at a depth that I had never known before," said C.T. Vivian, a former King associate.

Presidential candidates, civil rights leaders, labor activists and thousands of citizens were expected to come together Friday in Memphis to honor King for his devotion to racial equality and economic justice.

"The whole nation flinched" when King was killed by a rifle shot on April 4, 1968, said writer Cynthia Griggs Fleming, one of the many historians, commentators and activists in town for panel discussions and lectures on King's legacy.