''We were never concerned with who killed Martin Luther King, but what killed Martin
Luther King,'' says former King aide Andrew Young in this film, which tells the
wildly disparate yet fatefully entwined stories of an assassin, James Earl Ray, and
his target, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., against the backdrop of the seething and
turbulent forces in American society that led these two men to their violent and
tragic collision in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968. Based on a forthcoming
book by Hampton Sides (
Ghost Soldiers), the program relies on eyewitness
testimony from King's inner circle and the officials involved in Ray's capture and
prosecution following an intense two-month international manhunt. ROADS TO MEMPHIS is
both an incisive portrait of an America on edge in that crisis-laden year and a
cautionary tale of how the course of history can be forever altered by the actions of
one individual.
When James Earl Ray was arrested in July 1969, he was the most wanted suspect in the
world. Who was this ''four-time loser'' who was able to assassinate Dr. Martin Luther
King, the Nobel Prize-winning, charismatic leader of the civil rights movement? How
did Ray manage to escape and elude authorities for months? What motivated him to kill?
ROADS TO MEMPHIS reveals a mysterious and misunderstood loner who remains an enigma
even today.
Marian Spencer,
shares stories about how she became president of the Cincinnati chapter of the NAACP,
and how a request by her sons helped push her to fight for integration at Coney Island
Amusement Park. She also talks about the fight for integrating schools in Cincinnati.
In her next video, Mrs. Spencer talks about the integration of the Cincinnati Public Schools,
the importance of education, and the need for diversity in all areas of life.
Dr. John Bryant, Former Executive Director of the Cincinnati Youth Collaborative and former Head of the Education Dept. at Wilmington College,
describes growing up in Cincinnati during the height of segregation, and an unforgivable moment that occurred the night he became the first African American Assistant Coach at the University of Cincinnati.
In his next video: Despite excellent grades and being a member of a basketball team that
made it to the final four, Dr. John Bryant still couldn't find a job or even get an
interview. He describes how segregation in the 1960s had an impact on his education and future.