The nation looked back on Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy and forward to his dream for America. Fifty years ago, the civil rights leader was assassinated.
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He was honored with ceremonies in Memphis where he died; in Atlanta where he was laid to rest; and in our nation's capital where his words changed the world.
That celebration begins Wednesday night with the ringing of the bell at Mount Zion Baptist Church to mark the exact time King died, at 5:04 p.m. PT. The same thing is happening in some cities, many of them on the East Coast.
Thirty nine bells will ring, one for each year of his short life. Eddie Rye Jr. helped plan the event.
He spoke about King.
"Yeah, I got to meet him," he said. "I didn't get to hear the assembly."
He talks matter-of-factly about something most of those alive today can only dream of, meeting King.
"Well, you know, I only had about two or three minutes," he said. "You know, 8 millioin people, so."
Rye was just 18 in November, 1961. The famed Civil Rights leader was making his only visit to Seattle. What few mementos survive from that day are on display at the Northwest African American Museum. Just seven years later, King was shot and killed on the balcony of a motel in Memphis, Tennessee.
Rye was asked how he got the news.
"It was by word of mouth because I was, I think I was coming from somewhere," said Rye. "I was in a store or something and someone said 'Man, did you hear?' This was like about 6 or 6:30 Seattle time. 'Did you hear man, they killed Dr. King?'"
He says some Seattle residents took to the streets.
"There was some disturbances on 23rd and Cherry, 23rd and Jefferson and other sporadic places around the city," Rye said. "Nothing compared to what was, I mean, other major cities."
Within 15 years, Rye was helping lead the fight to rename Empire Way to Martin Luther King Jr. Way South.
"To remember Dr. King," he said. "To remember what he stood for and, I think, the accomplishments that he made."