Untitled

Each year cartoons that have resonance with the events of today are included from the Museum’s archives.

Civil rights leader Dr Martin Luther King Jnr was assassinated on 4 April 1968. King had been a strong advocate for peaceful protest, but his death set off waves of riots across the United States. Washington DC was one of the cities most affected, with destructive riots continuing for days. The National Guard was called out, and marines even posted machine-guns on the steps of the Capitol — shown here being licked by flames.