58 years ago today
Martin Luther King Jr. Assassinated in Memphis
On April 4, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was shot and killed by a sniper's bullet as he stood on the second-floor balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. He was 39 years old. King had come to Memphis to support striking Black sanitation workers who were marching for equal pay and dignity. The bullet was fired by James Earl Ray from a rooming house across the road. King was pronounced dead at St. Joseph's Hospital just over an hour later. His assassination triggered riots in over 100 American cities, one of the worst waves of civil unrest since the Civil War. He was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal, and a national holiday was established in his honor.
Maya Angelou
American memoirist, poet, and civil rights activist
Angelou's autobiography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969) broke new ground in American literature by frankly depicting racial trauma and resilience. Her poem "On the Pulse of Morning," read at President Clinton's 1993 inauguration, made her one of the most beloved voices in the nation.
Robert Downey Jr.
American actor
One of Hollywood's most dramatic comeback stories, Downey overcame addiction and criminal convictions to portray Tony Stark / Iron Man across the Marvel Cinematic Universe. His performance in Chaplin (1992) earned him an Oscar nomination at age 27.
Muddy Waters
American blues musician
Born McKinley Morganfield in Mississippi, Muddy Waters moved to Chicago and electrified the Delta blues, creating the sound that directly inspired the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, and the entire British Invasion. His songs "Hoochie Coochie Man" and "Mannish Boy" are blues standards.
Dorothea Dix
American social reformer and humanitarian
Dix led the 19th-century movement to reform the treatment of the mentally ill, campaigning tirelessly for the creation of proper asylums rather than prisons and poorhouses. She personally lobbied state legislatures across the country and eventually helped establish 32 hospitals.
Anthony Perkins
American actor
Perkins delivered one of cinema's most unforgettable performances as Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960), creating an archetype of the soft-spoken, deeply disturbed killer that defined the psychological thriller for decades.
Francis Drake Knighted for Circumnavigating the Globe
Queen Elizabeth I boards Drake's ship, the Golden Hind, in Deptford and confers a knighthood upon him. Drake had become the first Englishman — and second person ever — to circumnavigate the globe, returning in 1580 loaded with Spanish plunder.
Napoleon Abdicates for the First Time
After a series of catastrophic defeats and the fall of Paris, Napoleon Bonaparte signs a conditional abdication at Fontainebleau, naming his young son Napoleon II as emperor. The Allies rejected the condition, and Napoleon was exiled to the island of Elba.
President William Henry Harrison Dies After 31 Days
William Henry Harrison dies of pneumonia, having served only 31 days as President of the United States — the shortest term in American history. Vice President John Tyler is immediately sworn in, setting the first precedent for presidential succession.
Hinterkaifeck Murders Discovered
Neighbors discover the bodies of six people at the isolated Hinterkaifeck farmstead in Bavaria, Germany. Andreas Gruber, his wife, their widowed daughter, her two children, and the family maid had been killed with a mattock days earlier. The killer had remained on the farm after the murders, feeding the livestock and eating in the kitchen. The case has never been solved.
NATO Founded by Twelve Nations
Representatives of the United States, Canada, and ten Western European nations sign the North Atlantic Treaty in Washington, D.C., creating NATO — a collective defense alliance that would define the military architecture of the Cold War and beyond.
Martin Luther King Jr. Delivers "Beyond Vietnam" Speech
Marking a major expansion of his civil rights mission, King delivers a speech at Riverside Church in New York City explicitly opposing the Vietnam War. It cost him support from President Johnson and much of the establishment press, but he declared that silence on moral matters was betrayal.
Martin Luther King Jr. Assassinated
Dr. King is shot on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. His death triggers riots in more than 100 American cities and marks the end of an era of optimism in the civil rights movement.
World Trade Center Officially Dedicated
New York's Twin Towers are formally dedicated in a ceremony in Lower Manhattan. At the time of their completion, the towers were the tallest buildings in the world at 1,368 and 1,362 feet. They stood for 28 years.
Microsoft Founded by Gates and Allen
Bill Gates and Paul Allen officially found Microsoft in Albuquerque, New Mexico, after licensing a BASIC interpreter to MITS for their Altair 8800 computer. The company would go on to become the most valuable company on Earth.
Peace Treaty Ends Angola's 27-Year Civil War
The MPLA government and UNITA rebels sign a ceasefire agreement in Luena, formally ending one of the Cold War's most destructive proxy conflicts. Angola's civil war had killed an estimated 500,000 people and displaced four million.
HistorIQly Chat
Ask Martin Luther King Jr. about this day
Dive deeper — ask questions, challenge assumptions, hear the story in their own words. Powered by AI, grounded in history.
Start a conversation →Martin Luther King Jr.
American civil rights leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate
Shot at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis at age 39, King had led the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the March on Washington, and the Selma-to-Montgomery marches. His "I Have a Dream" speech remains the most powerful address in American civic life.
William Henry Harrison
9th President of the United States
Harrison died of pneumonia just 31 days into his presidency — the shortest term in American history. He had delivered the longest inaugural address ever, standing bareheaded in cold rain, and was dead within a month.
Oliver Goldsmith
Irish novelist, playwright, and poet
Goldsmith wrote The Vicar of Wakefield (1766) and the comedy She Stoops to Conquer (1773), both enduring classics. Dr. Johnson wrote his epitaph: "He touched nothing that he did not adorn."
Karl Benz
German engineer, inventor of the automobile
Benz patented the world's first true automobile — the Benz Patent-Motorwagen — in 1886, powered by an internal combustion engine. He later co-founded what became Mercedes-Benz, and his invention transformed human civilization.
The figures and events above are only the beginning. Dive deeper into history with HistorIQly's full collection.
Discover Your Day
What happened on your birthday?
Every date in history holds its own stories. Find the events, birthdays, and turning points that share your day.