kerry may. >> she grew up around the corner from the lorraine motel. and when dr. support of the sanitation workers strike at mason temple, she wanted to go. and she asked her mother can she go to mason temple to hear dr. king speak. and big mama told her, no, you are not going to go. somebody's going to bomb that church. you know they're out to kill that man. and my mother was like, that's one of my biggest regrets. i never got a chance to hear him speak. >> i would tell katori that story basically about every time black history came about. and it just kept going on. martin luther king became one of her favorite peoples. >> reporter: hall grew up with that story walking her mother's childhood streets. >> this entire street was just, you know, full of people. miss ida. miss ruth. >> reporter: she calls memphis her muse. where she found inspiration. and her fighting spirit. >> i was the first black valedictorian. i had heard a rumor at school that the powers that be were going to change the march into alphabetical order. we weren't going to walk in according to rank

. >> mitchell: the play takes place in the lorraine motel in memphis on april 3, 1968, one day beforeing was struck down we an assassin. what do you think dr. king would think about this play? >> i think he'd enjoy it. i think he'd have a good time laughing at what's going on. i think he would nod his head in agreement about the fear and the frustration of the movement in terms of how it was progressing and how the nation was responding to his message in that particular way. >> mitchell: he's not a perfect man. in fact, that's one of the lines. >> "i'm not perfect." >> i don't like me no man with no smelly feet. >> they do stink, don't they? don't tell nobody. >> mitchell: "the mountaintop" allows people to take a closer look at the civil rights leader as man. >> a lot of moments being alone at the motel room and what his fears might be. >> mitchell: do you think people are ready to see a somewhat flawed dr. king? >> this is one of those kind of informative plays that allows them to see an icon as a human being. >> mitchell: "the mountaintop" will be playing on broadway through the en

reporter: president barack obama was 6 years old when king was assassinated in april of 1968 at the lorraine motel >> that is why we honor this man, because he had faith in us and that is why he belongs on this mall, because he saw what we might become. that is why dr. king was so quintessentially american. >> free at last! free at last! thank god almighty, we are free at last! >> it is so wonderful that we are able to move this country in a direction of freedom. >> reporter: a mondument who helped integrate the nation and the national mall. >>> told but dewey bozella on friday. a man free from prison after serving 26 years for a murder he did not commit. his dream was to become a professional boxer. saturday night he got his chance facing an opponent 22 years his junior. he landed a hard right cross at the winning bell and earned a unanimous decision. >> i would like to say that dreams do happen if you never give up hope and always believe in yourself. don't let anybody tell you what you can't do. >> reporter: he said that would be his first and last night. dewey bozella retires undefeated at 1-0

reporter: president barack obama was six years old when king was assassinated in april, 1968, at the lorraine motel in memphis, tennessee. >> that is why we honor this man, because he had faith in us. and that is why he belongs on this mall, because he saw what we might become. that is why dr. king was so quintessentially american. the first dedication was delayed by hurricane irene, but the sun and the crowds were out in full force to celebrate the life of the man who offered hope to so many. >> free at least, free at last, thank god almighty we are free at last. >> it is so wonderful that we are able to move this country in a direction of freedom. >> reporter: a monument to a man who helped integrate the nation and, today, the national mall. susan mcginnis, cbs news, washington. >> mitchell: the worldwide have sad news from the world of sport, two time endie 500 winner and reigning champion dan wheldon of britain was killed in a race from las vegas today. >> reporter: dan wheldon died doing what he loved, racing cars. he was killed in this fiery 15 car wreck in the las vegas 300, the last race of

reporter: but you can't talk about the city's history without talking about what happened at the lorraine motel martin luther king, jr., was killed tonight in memphis, tennessee. >> reporter: she grew up hearing about the great dr. king at her grandmother's knee. >> she still in the living room has two paintings on the wall. one is of jesus and one is of dr. king. >> reporter: she learned, too, her mother -- just 15 then -- desperately wanted to hear dr king speak in april 1968 at the mason temple but wasn't allowed to go. >> it doesn't matter what's with me now because i have been to the mountaintop. >> that's one of the biggest regrets of my life, that i did not hear martin luther king deliver that speech that night. >> reporter: so katori hall, now a promising young playwright would weave dr. king's story into her own. >> we all want the same things. a smile, a hug. >> a smoke! >> reporter: in "the mountaintop" samuel l. jackson portrays dr. martin luther king, jr., not as martyr, but man. drinking, swearing, vulnerable. >> he was a man who was not as optimistic about the movement as everyon

king, one of the few on the balcony at the lorraine motel when he was assassinated.s beautiful memorial, four acres and two decades in the making, i wonder, do you think to yourself look how far we've come? or boy, do we still have a long way to go? >> i don't think that way. i'm impressed with the statue. i think he would be appreciative of the statue, and it will have great historic meaning. the pair to come to washington for a poor people's campaign and occupy the area between the lincoln memorial and the washington memorial, it demands that we shift the war in vietnam to the war on poverty at home. i see him as a living force and the day when i think about more wars, more concentrations of wealth, more poverty and then more rebellion, dr. king would be in the middle of the struggle today. >> you know what i found interesting when i was looking at my mounds of research last night was that pack in 1968, you have spoken about how dr. king actually thought about quitting the civil rights movement and that he thought about becoming a full-time author, maybe taking a p

. >> king returned on april 3rd, 1968, staying at the lorraine motel. by mahatma ghandi, whose nonviolence resistance ended a century of british rule in india. in the travel case king brought with him was this quote on a well-worn scrap of paper. >> ghandi speaks for us in the midst of death, life persists. in the midst of darkness, life persists. >> then king wrote -- >> we are today in the midst of death and darkness. we can strengthen life and live by our personal acts, by saying no to violence, by saying yes to life. >> that night, dr. king spoke to an overflow crowd at a black church. >> but he talked about death more than i ever heard him talk about it at any one given. >> i don't know what will happen now. we've got some difficult days ahead. it really doesn't matter with me now, because i've been to the mountain top. >> andrew young told me it was a speech dr. king often made when times were dangerous. >> because he'd done it before and we'd gone on to the next place, i wasn't really taking it serious. it was just a great speech. but i never tho

i thought of him on that balcony of the lorraine motel.t and found tears streaming down my face as i thought about just the emotion, the historic emotion of the moment. >> that's why your columns are so good. you really get into that. that's part of the deal. we got that. >> i can't do that with all of them. >>> when i think about monuments, melissa and this one in particular, there's a sense of permanence there. >> yeah. >> this takes up the space, it is strong, bold and yet as eugene referenced earlier, there's a serenity and peace from it as well. when you talk about the permanence of dr. martin luther king and the way we think about him, isn't it still evolving the way we look at him and reflect on him? >> i actually hope so. in fact, i think it would be a tragedy if, by casting him in stone, we actually cast him in stone historically. he was an incredibly complex thinker. he was an intellectual as well as a political leader. so, you know, you always -- when you talk about king, you need to say king when? in the mid 1950s. the 1960s, t

martin luther king, and she plays the housekeeper at the lorraine motel, the night before he's assassinatedation. so people, watch us, and sometimes i'll get too close to her and everybody's like, "oh, no, no, no, dr. king, no, no." [ laughter ] >> jimmy: talking from the crowd? >> yeah, yeah, people are like "no, please. please don't, please don't, please no." >> jimmy: no, no, no, please don't go there. don't do this. don't do it, yeah. >> don't dirty the image like that. >> jimmy: no, absolutely not. but this is based on a play that, it started in london, and it's like a tiny theater -- >> it was a tiny theater above a pub, like 73 seats. and it went on to the west end, and katori, the playwright, actually won the olivier award, which is the equivalent of a tony for best new play. >> jimmy: is that right? >> that was two years ago, so this is the american debut of the play. but it's -- >> jimmy: it's superb. >> it's a fun play, it's great. it's dramatic, it's funny. >> jimmy: yeah, my friend went and saw it, said it was insane. >> it's a good ride. >> jimmy: yeah he said, by the end, eve

. >> reporter: set in the lorraine motel in memphis on april 3, 1968, jackson's dr.is reflective and vulnerable on the eve of his assassination. >> i don't like me no man with no smelly feet. >> they do stink, don't they? >> don't tell nobody. >> he's not a perfect man. >> reporter: in fact one of the lines is i'm not perfect. >> i'm not perfect. >> reporter: do you think people are ready to see a somewhat flawed dr. king? >> this is one of those kinds of informative plays that allows them to see an icon as a human being that, you know, talks to his wife the same way they talk to their wives and their kids and cares about their kids. he actually goes to the bathroom. we look at people, i didn't know he peeed. of course he does, you know. >> reporter: when we sat down with jackson on a day off from his 8 performances a week schedule he made it clear he's no stranger to hard work. >> i grew up in a working class family. when i was a kid, all the adults in my house got up and went to work every day. i assumed that's what grown-up people do. that's what i do. i just happ