April 4, 1968: Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Death and How it Changed America - Hardcover

On the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr, Michael Eric Dyson re-examines the influence of the Civil Rights leader, and how his death changed America.Martin Luther King, Jr, the prophet for racial and economic justice in America, was assassinated on April 4, 1968. Earlier that day, he had ended his final public speech by saying "I may not get there with you, but I want you to know tonight, that we as a people will get to the Promised Land."Now, forty years after his death, Michael Eric Dyson uses the assassination as a starting point for a comprehensive re-evaluation of the fate of America, specifically Black America, over the ensuing years. He ambitiously - and controversially - investigates the ways in the nation has made it to the Promised Land (the Civil Rights Bill of '64; the incredible number of black elected; the expanding black middle class and increased numbers of black entrepreneurs and CEOs) whilst shining a bright light on the many areas that still fall far short (racial profiling; police brutality; housing discrimination in the form of mortgage practices; health disparities; and, disproportionate levels of unemployment and underemployment).Rather than looking only back April 4, 1968 takes a sweeping 360-degree view of King's death-remembering all the toil, triumph, and tribulation that led to that fateful date while anticipating the ways in which the legacy of King's death will affect America's future.

Michael Eric Dyson has been named by Ebony as one of the hundred most influential black Americans, and is the author of fourteen other books. Dyson is University Professor at Georgetown University, where he teaches Theology, English and African American Studies. He lives in Washington, DC.