Remembering Martin Luther King Jr. 50 Years Later The civil rights leader was killed on April 4, 1968 at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis. He was fatally shot by James Earl Ray, an escaped convict. Five years earlier, he caught the attention of President John F. Kennedy with his "I Have a Dream" speech, which helped pass the Civil Rights Act in 1964. King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize that same year.