Chasing King's Killer: The Hunt for Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Assassin

In the Prologue, Swanson details the first assassination attempt on Martin Luther King. In 1958, King published a memoir called Stride Toward Freedom about his involvement in the Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycott. In Alabama, Black people had to sit at the back of the bus and give their seats up to white people if the bus got full. To protest this inequality, King led a boycott of the city’s buses, with Black people refusing to ride the bus until the law changed. 

King’s involvement in the Montgomery bus boycott made him famous in the civil rights movement, and New York City was the first stop on his book tour. Several events were organized for King, including a rally in front of a hotel in Harlem. Many people were excited to see King speak, but a small group of protesters were angry that King would sign books at a white-owned bookstore instead of one owned by Black people. These protesters were peaceful and respectful, but another attendee loudly “heckled” the white people speaking, saying that she “wanted nothing to do with anyone or anything white” (13). 

Unbothered, King gave the crowd a message of love, telling them not to hate white people.