REMEMBRANCE

Martin Luther King's assassination eve speech to be read in Boston

King originally delivered it in Memphis on the eve of his death on April 4, 1968

Martin Luther King's assassination eve speech to be read in Boston [File] Portrait of Dr Martin Luther King Jr in the Georgia State Capitol in Atlanta | AP

Martin Luther King Jr's last speech before his assassination 50 years ago this week will be read out aloud in Boston.

Dozens of speakers aged five to 91 will take turns reading short passages from the speech during Monday afternoon's remembrance on City Hall Plaza.

King originally delivered it in Memphis, Tennessee, on the eve of his death on April 4, 1968.

Democratic Boston Mayor Marty Walsh is hosting the event organised by the Boston Mountaintop Project. The group sees King's last words as a “framework” for a more open and accepting culture.

Mountaintop Project director Kevin Peterson says the speech's themes of racial and economic inequality make it timeless.

King found his calling as a civil rights activist in Boston and met his wife, Coretta Scott King, while studying there.