On the balcony with Martin Luther King Jr. at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis were several close aides and civil-rights leaders, including Ralph Abernathy, Jesse Jackson, Andrew Young, and Rev. Samuel “Billy” Kyles, among others.

In the famous photograph taken moments after the shooting—where people are pointing toward the boarding house across the street—you can see several of these figures gathered around Dr. King and gesturing toward the direction of the shot. An often‑noted detail from accounts of that day is that Rev. Samuel “Billy” Kyles was standing right beside Dr. King and had spent the last hour of his life with him on that balcony.