Martin Luther King Jr – who would have celebrated his 90th birthday on January 15 – was an American activist who became the most visible spokesperson and leader of the civil rights movement in the US from 1954 until his assassination in 1968. Dr King was shot and killed while standing on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4. For more than 50 years, the FBI has maintained that James Earl Ray was the lone gunman who assassinated Dr King.
However, his family, including his own son Dexter, remain adamant Mr Ray was set up.
During the investigations into the murder, the federal government uncovered a bag across the road from the shooting.
It contained a pair of binoculars, a newspaper with a story about Dr King staying at the Lorraine Motel, and a .30-06 Remington Gamemaster rifle that had fired one shot.
All three bore the fingerprints of escaped convict James Earl Ray.
The FBI have been accused of silencing Dr King (Image: GETTY)
Martin Luther King would be 90 if he was still alive (Image: GETTY)
There is abundant evidence of a major high-level conspiracy in the assassination of my husband
Coretta King
Mr Ray confessed to the crime on March 10, 1969, and received a 99-year prison sentence, which increased to 100 years after he briefly escaped in 1977.
However, within days of being locked up, Mr Ray began shouting over his innocence, claiming he was set up by a man known as “Raoul” in the US government.
William Pepper, Dr King’s last attorney before he was killed, claimed Mr Ray was framed by the FBI, the CIA, the military, and Memphis Police, it was revealed during a YouTube mini-documentary.
The series, posted by channel HowStuffWorks, revealed how Dr King’s family, including his wife Coretta and son Dexter, visited Mr
