Conclusion: Martin Luther King, Jr., the Civil Rights Movement, and the Black Freedom Struggle

Although the civil rights movement had been in decline for several years, no one single event signalled a decisive end to it more than King's assassination. Much of white America felt sympathy and remorse at King's death. President Johnson ordered flags to be flown at half-mast and declared the following Sunday a national day of mourning. In Memphis, on 5 April, 300 black and white ministers marched on City Hall. Eleven days later the city capitulated to the demands of the striking sanitation workers.