View enlarged timeline of events surrounding “I've Been to the Mountaintop”
The Mountaintop takes place during the last night of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s life, imaging what the Civil Rights Leader might have been contemplating and who he might have spoken with in his room at The Lorraine Hotel in Memphis, TN.
While Katori Hall fictionalizes what happens on April 3, 1968, many of the events leading up to and following that night are well-documented. King’s journey to the mountaintop demonstrates not only the commitment of a national leader, but also the uncertainty of a man carrying the weight of a legacy larger than himself.
February 1
Two Memphis sanitation workers are crushed by a malfunctioning garbage truck, casting a light on their poor working conditions and low wages; this leads to calls for a strike.
March 18
King arrives in Memphis to rally the workers and organize a protest in support of the sanitation strike alongside the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC).
March 22
The original protest is rescheduled due to a snowstorm.
March 28
King returns to Memphis to lead the march supporting the strike of sanitation workers, which quickly turns violent. King is rushed away from the scene.
March 30
SCLC staff, concerned for King’s safety, deliberate if he should return to Memphis. King decides to lead another march in an effort to refocus the strike’s trajectory towards working conditions reform.
April 3
King's flight to Memphis is delayed due to a bomb threat, but he arrives in time to attend the rally at Mason Temple, where he delivers his final speech, “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop.”
April 4
From media coverage surrounding the rally, James Earl Ray learns that King is staying at the Lorraine Hotel.
3:30 pm
Ray reserves a room in Bessie Brewer’s Rooming House under the name “John Willard” and asks for room 5B, which has a direct line of sight to King’s room at the Lorraine.
4:00 pm
Ray purchases a pair of binoculars and returns back to his room at Bessie Brewer’s.
5:55 pm
King and Reverend Abernathy emerge from their hotel rooms to leave for a dinner at the home of a local minister. King stands on the balcony to talk to his driver in the courtyard below.
6:01 pm
King is shot.
6:02 pm
Ray leaves his hotel, abandoning a bundle including his rifle, binoculars, and clothing in the doorway of a nearby building.
6:08 pm
A local business owner informs the police that a man had run through the alley and dropped a bundle.
6:09 pm
King is rushed to St. Joseph's Hospital.
6:10 pm
The first police dispatch includes a description of the possible shooter as a "young white male, well dressed, believed in late-model white Mustang, going north on Main from scene of shooting."
6:16 pm
King arrives at St. Joseph's Hospital, unconscious but still alive.
6:30 pm
Police find Ray's abandoned bundle, identifying him as “John Willard” in room 5B who drives a white Ford Mustang. By this time, Ray has crossed state lines. (After a worldwide manhunt, Ray is arrested two months later in London.)
7:05 pm
Dr. King is pronounced dead at St. Joseph's Hospital.
April 9
King is buried in Atlanta in a funeral attended by a crowd of over 300,000.
