Timeline: Martin Luther King, Jr. - Part V

Coretta Scott King founds the King Center in Atlanta.

IP James Earl Ray pleads guilty to King's murder, receives 99-year sentence.

Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site established in Atlanta, includes his birthplace, Ebenezer Church, and the King Center.

Coretta Scott King and three of her children are arrested while protesting apartheid outside the South African embassy in Washington, D.C.

The Federal Martin Luther King holiday is first celebrated.

Coretta Scott King makes the last speech of her life at a "Salute to Greatness" dinner on 14 January. The dinner is part of the Martin Luther King, Jr. celebrations in Atlanta, Georgia. King died seventeen days later on 31 January from respiratory failure due to complications after a recent serious stroke and cancer.