Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. died 50 years ago on April 4, 1968, at the age of 39 in Memphis, Tennessee. He was killed with one fatal shot by James Earl Ray. Five decades later, people still remember and talk about it as if the assassination happened just yesterday. A report by the New York Times was used for most of the information presented in this article.

Television specials

Radio and televisions stations around the country will air specials the entire day, recounting the life and legacy of Dr. King. On Wednesday, April 4, the actual day of the anniversary of his death, Paramount Network will air, "I Am MLK Jr.

" That particular broadcast will highlight King's activism during his Montgomery Bus Boycott and the March on Washington.

There will be a combination of an older civil rights leader like Jesse Jackson, along with modern-day celebrities such as Nick Cannon and Van Jones. An interview with Shaun King, a key figure in Black Lives Matter, will be highlighted and will show how Dr. King's legacy is still an inspiration and example of activism today.

Documentaries

Some documentaries marking the 50th anniversary of King's Assassination have already been aired ahead of the actual date. Not all documentaries start with the day King was killed, but they cover events leading up to his death.

Not only that, but the primetime news coverage featured some of the people who supported Dr.

King and were with him on many occasions. Many of those civil rights activists are still alive today. A notable person of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee is Congressman John Lewis. He has not been silent all these years about his relationship with King and how it was during his final years.

Many young people were not born during King's era and only know about him and what he stood for through television coverage, where his memory has been kept alive.

The newer generation has learned about a man whose legacy lives on through black and white footage.

NBC aired "Hope & Fury: MLK, the Movement and the Media" last month and again on MSNBC on Easter Sunday, April 1. The two-hour documentary was hosted by NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt. The show was centered around the civil rights activist and how he was covered in the news.

HBO aired "King in the Wilderness" on April 2. That documentary presented news accounts from the year of King's death in 1968 up to 2014. Filmmakers focused mostly on his "I Have a Dream" speech that many people have heard countless times over the last 50 years.

Everyone is bound to see or hear something on television about the death of Dr. King that happened 50 years ago as he is still remembered today.
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