Page "Memphis, Tennessee" Paragraph 14

During the 1960s, the city was at the center of civil rights issues, notably a sanitation workers ' strike.

The Lorraine Motel in the city was also the venue of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. on April 4, 1968, the day after giving his prophetic I've Been to the Mountaintop speech at the Mason Temple.

In 1970, the Census Bureau reported Memphis ' population as 60. 8 % white and 38. 9 % black.