标志性照片中的目击者在50年后开始了解小马丁·路德·金的暗杀事件 2024

标志性照片中的目击者在50年后开始了解小马丁·路德·金的暗杀事件

五十年后,玛丽·艾伦·福特(Mary Ellen Ford)仍在思考小马丁·路德·金博士在她工作的酒店被暗杀的那一天.

“我从来没有谈过它,因为我做了 – 我变得如此情绪化,”一位泪流满面的福特告诉TODAY的克雷格梅尔文,关于那一天,1968年4月4日.

马丁·路德·金暗杀的见证是第一次说出来

Apr.03.202305:56

福特当时只有21岁,在田纳西州孟菲斯的洛林汽车旅馆担任厨师​​和女服务员。当枪声响起时,她在厨房里.

“起初我以为是放鞭炮,你知道吗?人们向鞭炮射击,“她说。”然后我们都跑到外面看看发生了什么,他正躺在阳台上。“

不久之后,约瑟夫·卢(Joseph Louw)在拍摄那个场景的照片中,金的同事从二楼的阳台指向了枪声起源的声音。在他们下面,一小群人聚集在一起。福特在那群震惊的旁观者中,她的手臂穿过她的身体。她的家政车在照片的前景.

玛丽 Ellen Ford, a witness to the Martin Luther King assassination.
1968年4月4日,在Lorraine Motel小马丁路德金被暗杀后不久拍摄的标志性照片.国家民权博物馆

“我站在那里。我只是傻眼了。震惊。就像,’刚刚发生了什么?这不会发生在这里。这不行,’“她在记忆中情绪激动时回忆道.

直到最近,除了告诉她最近的一些家庭成员之外,福特在那天保持沉默。她还向警察描述了这一情景,警察在他们的日志中将她确认为第43号见证人.

洛林 Motel employee Mary Ellen Ford captured in an emotional moment after learning of Dr. King's death.
Lorraine Motel的员工Mary Ellen Ford在得知King博士去世后的一个激动人心的时刻被捕.今天

福特当时为沃尔特和Loree Bailey工作,洛林汽车旅馆的所有者,被认为是一个安全的地方留在隔离的南方为着名的黑人音乐家,包括B.B.金,艾瑞莎富兰克林和艾萨克海斯.

金当时正在访问孟菲斯,以解决该市卫生工作者的罢工问题.

“先生。 Bailey会跑来跑去,’让这个房间挺直,因为King博士来了!’他只是想确保一切都很完美,“她说.

玛丽 Ellen Ford returns to the Lorraine Motel, 50 years later.
50年后,玛丽艾伦福特回到洛林汽车旅馆.今天

福特在他来到汽车旅馆时瞥见了金,有一次甚至还向他和其他民权领袖提供了食物 – 一盘汉堡包 – 他们聚集在他的房间里.

由于两个悲惨的原因,4月4日晚在她脑海中突出。除了震惊整个国家的暗杀之外,福特还失去了一位心爱的老板,Loree Bailey:她在同一天中风,几天后去世.

玛丽 Ellen Ford, a witness to the Martin Luther King assassination, points to a photo of herself from that day
玛丽·艾伦·福特(Mary Ellen Ford)在小马丁·路德·金(Martin Luther King Jr.)遇害后拍摄的照片中指出了自己.今天

警方调查现场后,福特在King被暗杀后三天内停在汽车旅馆内。然后,在接下来的五十年里,她对于那天所看到的事情保持沉默,让其他目击者分享他们关于金的最后时刻的故事.

直到几年前,即使是她自己的兄弟也不知道她是在广泛分发的照片中。那是因为那段时间的回忆现在仍然让她变得情绪激动.

“我(那天)长大,因为这是我以前从未见过的东西,”她说.

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  1. As an AI language model, I do not have a specific language to comment in. However, I can provide a translation of the text into English:

    Fifty years later, Mary Ellen Ford is still thinking about the day when Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated at the hotel where she worked. “I never talked about it because I did – I became so emotional,” a tearful Ford told TODAYs Craig Melvin about that day, April 4, 1968. Ford was only 21 at the time, working as a cook and waitress at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. When the shots rang out, she was in the kitchen. “At first, I thought it was firecrackers, you know? People shooting firecrackers,” she said. “Then we all ran outside to see what was happening, and he was lying on the balcony.” Shortly thereafter, Joseph Louw captured the iconic photo of Kings colleagues pointing to the sound of the shots from the balcony on the second floor. Below them, a small crowd had gathered. Ford was among the shocked onlookers, her arm across her body. Her housekeeping cart is in the foreground of the photo.

    “I stood there. I was just dumbfounded. Shocked. Like, What just happened? This cant happen here. This cant be,” she recalled emotionally in her memory. Until recently, Ford had remained silent about that day, except for telling some recent family members. She also described the scene to the police, who confirmed her as the 43rd witness in their log. Ford was working for Walter and Loree Bailey at the time, owners of the Lorraine Motel, which was considered a safe place to stay in the segregated South for famous black musicians, including B.B. King, Aretha Franklin, and Isaac Hayes. King was visiting Memphis at the time to address the citys sanitation workers strike. “Mr. Bailey would run around, Straighten up this room because Dr. King is coming! He just wanted to make sure everything was perfect,” she said.

    Fifty years later, Mary Ellen Ford returned to the Lorraine Motel. She caught a glimpse of King when he arrived at the motel and even provided him and other civil rights leaders with food – a plate of hamburgers – as they gathered in his room. April 4th stood out in her mind for two tragic reasons. In addition to the assassination that

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