MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Days of activities commemorating the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. came to a close Wednesday evening in Memphis with a solemn tolling of a bell atop the National Civil Rights Museum.
The bell rang 39 times, once for each year of King's life.
In an interview with KPRC, the Rev. Jesse Jackson recalled the night he saw his friend and mentor murdered by a sniper.
"Fifty years ago, I saw the bullet pierce his neck. I saw his blood. He died, but because he died, we live," Jackson said.
Fifty years later, Jackson sees King's dream alive in what he says is a changing political landscape, even in Texas.
"When we have congressional lines in Texas where black, white, brown men and women can run together, that's a new America and we should learn to live together as brothers and sisters and not die apart as fools," Jackson said.
Others, who gathered for a large rally and march held by the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees, said they felt some the progress King helped achieve has been lost.
"All the fighting that he did for us that we've gone backwards, when I look at what's going on in today's environment, all of his dreams and everything that we fought for, it seems like we've reverted back," said Sandra Smith of Grand Rapids, Michigan.
King was in Memphis in April of 1968 to support striking black sanitation workers who were fighting for better pay and safe working conditions after two of their colleagues were killed on the job.
It's a struggle members of Unite Here, a hospitality union, said still exists today.
"It's not just about workers' rights, it's about human rights as well," said Stephanie Glover of Houston.
A group of journalists have spent the last year investigating just how far Memphis has come in fulfilling King's vision for social and economic equality. Their research shows the city and its major employers have not done enough to step up to the plate. Memphis is the poorest metropolitan area in the United States.
"The economy is founded upon low-wage work, it's a majority black city and 50 years since Dr. King was assassinated here, we think that should look differently and we're exploring that through our writing and our coverage," said Deborah Douglas, managing editor of "MLK 50: Justice Through Journalism."