White-haired veterans of the sanitation workers' strike that brought the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. to Memphis in 1968 marked the 40th anniversary Friday of his assassination by marching to the motel where he was cut down by a sniper's bullet.

"Dr. King was like Moses," said Leslie Moore, 61, who was a sanitation worker in 1968 and is still on the job more than a generation later. "God gave Moses the assignment to lead the children of Israel across the Red Sea. He sent Dr. King here to lead us to a better way."

The morning rally -- which included a dozen or so of the original strikers, along with hundreds of other people, mostly members of AFSCME, the public employees union -- was one of two marches to the Lorraine Motel, once a blacks-only establishment in segregated Memphis, now a civil rights museum.

It was at the Lorraine Motel 40 years ago Friday that King was shot dead. The nation reacted with shock, rage, deep sorrow and in some places violence. There was also a renewed dedication to King's dream of racial integration, justice for the poor and for peace.

In the afternoon, about 800 people made their way through the streets in the rain, wearing bright slickers and carrying umbrellas. The crowd was mostly black but included people of all colors and stations, a display of the kind of unity King once dreamed of and found so tragically elusive in the violence-drenched spring of 1968.

Among the afternoon marchers was retired sanitation worker Baxter Leach, 68.

"We honor this day. We march," Leach said, adding that King helped all Americans. "He was for poor folks. He wasn't for just one color. He was for all colors."

At 6:01 p.m. Central time there was a moment of silence, followed by the solemn sounding of bells.

Family Marks Anniversary

The eldest and youngest of King's children remembered the civil rights leader with a solemn ceremony on Friday.

The Rev. Bernice King and Martin Luther King III were joined by his wife, Arndrea, who is expecting the couple's first child in May. The three placed a wreath at the tomb where Martin Luther King Jr. and his wife, Coretta Scott King, are buried.

Afterward, the three held hands and prayed for several moments, then posed for photographs for the crowd and media. About an hour later, Bernice King addressed about 2,000 students at nearby Ebenezer Baptist Church - where her father preached from 1960 until his death - and urged them to pick up her father's cause.

"You have been chosen for greatness," she told the applauding students. "You have to step up to the plate and represent for your generation."

Bernice King shared her own troubled youth as an example to the students.

"For a season in my life, that bullet caused an explosion of hate, anger and rage in my own heart," Bernice King said, who said she wrestled with feelings of condemnation and revenge.

Understanding her father's teachings and seeing her mother's example in the decades after his death helped her to get past those emotions, she said - though she acknowledged she still struggles today.

"I am engaged in a daily battle," she said.

McCain: I Was Wrong About King Holiday

"The quality of his character is only more apparent," said Sen. John McCain, who told a black audience that he had been wrong to vote against legislation making King's birthday a holiday.

"His good name will be honored for as long as the creed of America is honored. His message will be heard and understood for as long as the message of the gospels is heard and understood."

Like McCain, Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton traveled to Memphis to observe the day. But unlike him, she chose not to speak at ceremonies at the Lorraine Motel where King was shot.

Instead, she was in the church where he had delivered his final sermon on the day before his death. A college student 40 years ago, Clinton recalled, "I walked into my dorm room and took my book bag and hurled it across the room." Her voice breaking, she added, "It felt like everything had been shattered and we'd never be able to put the pieces together again."

In a glancing reference to the current campaign, she added that "because of him, after 219 years and 43 presidents who have all been white men, this generation will grow up taking for granted that a woman or an African-American could be president of the United States."

Alone among the three, Sen. Barack Obama decided against a personal pilgrimage to the city of King's death. The strongest black candidate in history, he campaigned in Indiana, where he said King's pleas have yet to be answered fully.

"You know, Dr. King once said that the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice. ... But here's the thing - it does not bend on its own. It bends because each of us in our own ways put our hand on that arc and we bend it in the direction of justice," said the Illinois senator.

"So on this day of all days let us each do our part to bend that arc. Let's bend it toward justice. Let's bend that arc toward opportunity. Let's bend that arc toward prosperity for all."

Jackson Remembers Friend

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, an aide to the civil rights leader who was with him the day he was shot, said Friday he sometimes remembers King and the events of that day as though they were playing back in his head. He said he sees King talking and laughing and going to dinner. And then, he said, "it was over."

Jackson said King is beloved today but was a hated man when he was killed. He said King was trying to live in peace and said "they just blew him away."

Convicted assassin James Earl Ray died in prison while serving time for King's murder. But Jackson said he doesn't believe Ray could have killed King without help.

Jackson spoke to The Associated Press at the site of the assassination in Memphis. He said he doesn't go back there much because, he said, it's still "a lot to take."

Exhibit Commemorates King's Life

While the country remembered King, a special exhibit in Atlanta is also commemorating the 40th anniversary of his assassination.

The artifacts and photographs of "From Memphis to Atlanta: The Drum Major Returns Home" chronicle the final days and hours before King's death to the funeral procession by thousands of mourners through his hometown five days later.

The display also emphasizes the continuing legacy of King's mission for nonviolent social change, said Dean Rowley, a National Park Service ranger and curator of the exhibit.

The centerpiece is the wagon that was drawn by two mules as it carried King's casket more than four miles from the funeral at Ebenezer Baptist Church, where he preached, to a memorial service at Morehouse College, his alma mater.

"The purpose of the mule wagon was to show the importance of his dedication to the poor," Rowley said.

This commitment to his Poor People's Campaign, Rowley said, took King to Memphis to support striking sanitation workers. It was there that he was struck by an assassin's bullet.

The exhibit also includes photographs of garbage workers with picket signs; King, Hosea Williams, Jesse Jackson and Ralph Abernathy on the balcony of the motel where he would be shot a day later; the historic image of the fallen King on the balcony as his aides point to the source of gunfire; and four lilies attached by a ribbon to a cross posted on the door of Room 306, outside of which he was fatally wounded.

Poll Shows Optimism

A poll by CBS News and The New York Times showed 55 percent think race relations in the U.S. are basically good, a more optimistic view than the poll has shown in two decades. While 57 percent of whites held that opinion, just 42 percent of blacks felt that way.

In addition, about six in 10 blacks said they think Barack Obama's Democratic presidential campaign has brought people together while only one in four whites agree.

Separately, only about a third of whites and blacks think King's "I Have a Dream" speech has been fulfilled, according to a poll by CNN/Essence Magazine/Opinion Research Corp. Most blacks but few whites said King influenced them a great deal.

In that same poll, most whites and slightly fewer blacks said they think the U.S. is ready for a black president.

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