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New Photos Bare Aftermath of King's Death

Life finally releases grim images taken after assassination
By Jason Farago,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 3, 2009 4:59 AM CDT
New Photos Bare Aftermath of King's Death
Martin Luther King Jr. stands at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, on April 3, 1968. He was assassinated the next day.   (AP Photo/File)

Newly published photographs by a Life magazine lensman capture the aftermath of the shocking assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., including a motel worker sweeping away the blood of the civil rights crusader. Few journalists traveled to Memphis after the assassination, and Life declined to run the photos after his murder in April 1968, reports the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

"It was very disappointing they didn’t publish them, but in those days, we had no say," said Henry Groskinsky, who rushed to Memphis when he heard the news of King's death. He took only a few photographs to document the scene, which he says was "like a wake." To view the newly released images, click on the link to Life below.
(More Life stories.)

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