Did Martin Luther King, Jr. know he was going to be killed?

Question

I just watched his final speech featured on Youtube, and the way he speaks, it seems as if he knows.

Answer 1

Martin went to Memphis for a garbage strike. City employees were striking for better wages. The FBI was watching his every move. They saw the white women leave his room. They saw the tension from all the garbage that wasn't being picked up. There was a lot of stuff that was hushed up back then. Not like today when government secrets are sacrifaced by opportuntistic polititico's.

Martin got a lot of death threats wherever he went. But to be fair the motel he was shot at wasn't in the best part of town. It was in part of the seedier parts of town. gun shots were not uncommon in that part of town. Unfortunately he probably couldn't stay at a better motel because the SLC didn't have a whole lot of money, and segregation if not by law, but by custom was still in practice.

I don't think Martin knew he was going to be slain in Memphis.

Yet I think he knew it was going to happen someday because

just like Gandhi, some people thought if he were dead., then life could be just it always was.

Sort of how Osama thinks today, If the Great Satan were destroyed then Israel will cease to exist.

Answer 2

I had the same thought when I watched it.  I think he knew that he was going to die by assassination at some point, but I don't think that he knew it was going to be that day.  Then again, the line "I have seen the promised land, but I may not get there with you" seems very prophetical.

Answer 3

there was 2 failed attempts he knew people were trying to kill him

Answer 4

yes the aliens told him , weird huh

Answer 5

I don't think he knew that something would happen the very next day, but I think he had a sense that something would inevitably happen.

Answer 6

I am sure he knew that taking his stance would one day cost him his life but that it was worth it if he could get through to enough people to make sure that everyone could be equal and all people could treat all people with dignity and respect. I don't think he knew when or where or anything like that, but I am sure living in the time that he did with all the torment that was going on in our country he probably suspected that it would happen eventually.

Answer 7

That's crazy....too much internet or Youtube for you...get some fresh air......ah, you smell that, BS!

Answer 8

He had an idea something would happen to him.  In his "I have a dream" speech he said the he may not be with us but we as a people would get to the promised land.  He knew people were gunning for him.  Tragic lost to this country as well as the world.

Answer 9

I think he did.  I remember watching his last speech live on TV and thinking that he seemed like he felt something dreadful was going to happen to him.

Answer 10

when you preach change like that in a time when people are resisting it you have to expect that someone would at least try to kill you,  unfortunatly some people just can't get past the ignorance of racisim

Answer 11

He knew.  It would not have been hard to figure out.  There had been numerous threats.  His speach makes it obvious that he knew he would most likely be killed for what he was doing.  His speach also makes it clear that he would never stop doing what he believed in.

Answer 12

I think it had some idea, I mean the risk was there..

Answer 13

I think he knew someone might assassinate him as in one line of I've Had A Dream he references he may not make it with us. He was truly a remarkable man. But I believe were he is now if  somehow he is allowed look down he is doing so with a beautiful smile.

Answer 14

like the other person here said, he had received threats and was likely fearful although he could not say for sure that his life was going to be taken as the threats were not specific.

Answer 15

When he started his life's work he knew he was becoming a target. He may have had a premonition of the impending death, but I doubt he he for a fact.

Answer 16

He didn't know for sure, but he knew it could always happen, since he got a lot of death threats over the years.

Answer 17

He knew it, he was truly a brave man to fight (Peacefully mind you) for what was legally right.  Not one of these goof ball crooks like Jessie Jackson or Al Sharpton...

If Martin Luther King Jr. could see how these crooks are working today, he would kick their butts.

Answer 18

i dont think so..he was like assassinated,,does anybody really know theyre gonna be killed besides jesus??

Answer 19

He probably suspected it...I remember the awful event...

..our country lost a great hero that tragic day...thank God

the dream he spoke of is alive and well tody!