This heartbreaking short home movie, original footage shot on silent 16mm film, records some of the events on April 5, 1968 as the casket containing fallen Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King is loaded aboard an American Airlines Convair at the Memphis Airport. As you will see in the film, security at the airport was tight and included at least one National Guardsman carrying a Tommy gun. The crowd appears very orderly and reverent, but according to an article (cited below), there were significant worries that people in their grief and outrage might surround the hearse and prevent the transfer of the coffin in an orderly, respectful way. Ralph Abernathy, the new president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (a post King had held until his assassination), stepped in front of the crowd and pleaded for calm. The crowd responded, and both blacks and whites sang “We Shall Overcome Someday” on the tarmac that day…

An excellent article containing more information about the scene recorded here, can be found at: http://memphismagazine.com/features/the-day-the-earth-stood-still-memphis-april-4-1968/

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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD and 2k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com