It was on 9 April 1968, that a funeral was held in Atlanta, Georgia, for the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. who had been assassinated on 4 April in Memphis, Tennessee, where he had made an appearance in support of striking city sanitation workers.
At his funeral, Mahalia Jackson sang his favorite hymn, “Take My Hand, Precious Lord”.
New York Governor, Nelson A. Rockefeller, sent his Advance Man, Joe Canzeri to aid the King family in planning the funeral. It was Canzeri who came up with the idea of bearing Dr. King’s coffin on a wagon to be pulled by mules. Canzeri was the son of Italian immigrants, and to him a mule cart was a symbol of poverty. It proved a fitting tribute. The procession passed by the Capitol building, but the Georgia Governor, Lester Maddox, refused to allow the body of King to lie in state at the Capitol.
In the above photo, such prominent personalities as Jesse Jackson and Andrew Young, can be seen.