(CNN) - The U.S. remembers Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as the anniversary of his assassination approaches.
On April 4, 1968, King was assassinated at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, TN. Nearly 50 years later, his legacy continues through the lives of those who knew and fought alongside him.
It also carries on through those who aspire to carry on his passion for change, from his granddaughter at the "March for Our Lives" to the students at his alma mater, Morehouse College.
"It demonstrates to our students that you can be 19, 20, 21 years old and begin your legacy now," said Quintin Paschall, a student at Morehouse.
As a Morehouse student in 1960, Lonnie King Jr., no relation, remembers organizing sit-ins in Atlanta among the students there, and he remembers getting Martin Luther King Jr. to join them.
"My point was this is your hometown and you're internationally known, and you'll help put this thing on the front pages of the world, not just Atlanta," Lonnie King Jr. said.
Eight years later the news of King's assassination reverberated through Atlanta as it did across the world.
Lonnie King Jr. was in a meeting when he was handed a note, telling him what happened. He said he received a call from Coretta Scott King, Martin Luther King Jr.'s widow, asking him to handle the logistics of the funeral.
"There wasn't a single incident at all, but I think there was no incident because of people's respect for King," Lonnie King Jr. said.
It's a respect that's persisted, all stemming from a man and from a movement that helped shape one of the most significant chapters in American history.
"Many of the things that Dr. King talked about in his time are still issues and debates that we're struggling with today," said Vicki Crawford, director of the Morehouse College Martin Luther King Jr. Collection.
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