​Molly Price

In a room that usually seats 300, a small group of students sit eagerly in the first few rows. They are waiting to meet Earl Caldwell, a former New York Times journalist who witnessed the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.

Caldwell wore no microphone no coat or tie and stood only inches from the front row of students. In this intimate setting, Caldwell agreed to take questions from students. During what became a 45-minute response to the first question he was asked, Caldwell shared his experiences and his opinions honestly.

“All my life I’ve been a reporter,” Caldwell began. “The only reason that I was in Memphis when King was killed was because I was a reporter.”

Caldwell, who’s experiences range from working at a small local newspaper, to writing for The New York Times and teaching on the university level, was working for The New York Times when he stayed at the hotel where King was killed.

However, his eyewitness report does not agree with the official government statements on the case. Caldwell feels the truth must be told, and for 30 years he has continued to tell what he knows to be true of King’s shocking death.

“I believe that almost everything that we’ve been told about the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. is a farce,” Caldwell said. “No one saw James Earl Rey firing out of a bathroom window.”

Though Caldwell did not want to tell his story in its entirety due to his speech on the subject later that day, he did say that he had written a book on the King assassination that received 36 rejection letters from publishers.

Caldwell also mentioned that he was summoned by the justice department for testimony in the King investigation 30 years after the assassination. The shocking conclusion drawn from the meetings was that Caldwell was not present at the time of the murder.

“If you’re not there, they don’t have to deal with any aspect of what you’re saying; you just don’t exist,” Caldwell said.

Caldwell also spent a portion of his career reporting on the Black Panther party in the 1970s. When the FBI pressed him to reveal information about his sources, Caldwell stood his ground and declined.

“They made it sound very innocent,” Caldwell said. “It was almost like it was my patriotic duty.”

When Caldwell refused to provide information to the FBI, the dispute made its way to the Supreme Court in 1972 where Caldwell lost United States v. Caldwell. Though the case was not a victory for Caldwell, he still believes that a reporter’s first duty is to work. Caldwell said that he believes he had the right as a reporter to protect his sources and decline the FBI.

Now teaching at Hampton University, Caldwell continues to share his experiences with his students.​