A sad anniversary

On tomorrow's date in 1968 Martin Luther King Jr. was killed. I was 11, living in the Boston suburbs, and had little sense of the historical significance at the time. Reading the Taylor Branch biographies has given me tremendous respect not only for King's heroism, but also his humanity. Despite our tendency to deify, and thereby neuter, our national heroes, they are men and women just like us, with the same hopes and fears but also with the capacity to act and persevere in the face of sometimes enormous obstacles. Some fascinating photographs taken by Life magazine photographer Henry Groskinsky in the immediate aftermath of King's assassination have just been released and are available on the new Life.com website. How our world would have been different had he lived!