Activism in the US

King's Assassination

Courtesy of the Kenan Research Center at the Atlanta History Center. Cite as: Bill Wilson Photographs, Kenan Research Center, Atlanta History Center,  Atlanta, Ga.

View of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Reverend Ralph David Abernathy (left) standing in the door of a substandard housing unit in the Vine City neighborhood in Atlanta, Georgia where residents were protesting their living conditions. In January of 1966, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., his wife Coretta Scott King, and the Reverend Ralph David Abernathy and his wife Juanita led a protest march in the Vine City neighborhood in Atlanta, Georgia to call attention to substandard housing in that area.

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<p>Martin Luther King, Jr., was clearly the most prominent figure in the African American civil rights movement.  Born in 1929 in Atlanta, he became a Baptist minister and president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC).  He was a strong advocate and skilled spokesman for nonviolence.  King’s outstanding leadership was recognized by the award of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. He was assassinated in Memphis in 1968, but his legacy remains and he is widely commemorated throughout the nation and indeed the world for his remarkable civil rights achievements.</p>

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Civil Rights Movements

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WSB-TV newsfilm clip of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. responding to a reporter's question about president John F. Kennedy's speech on civil rights and the murder of Medgar Evers, Atlanta, Georgia, 1963 June 12

In this WSB newsfilm clip from Atlanta, Georgia on June 12, 1963 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. responds to a reporter's questions about president John F. Kennedy's speech on civil rights and the murder of National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) field officer Medgar Evers in Jackson, Mississippi. King asserts that the events of the evening will encourage African Americans in the struggle for civil rights. When asked of a connection between Kennedy's speech and Evers' murder, King recognizes that those who murdered the NAACP worker may have been upset at Kennedy's public support of civil rights. On June 12, 1963 following the peaceful integration of the University of Alabama, United States president John F. Kennedy spoke in a televised address in which he highlighted the national importance of the civil rights struggle. That same evening, NAACP field secretary Medgar Evers, leader of a civil rights campaign in Jackson, Mississippi, was shot to death as he walked between his car and his home.

WSB-TV (Television station : Atlanta, Ga.)

Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection

Courtesy of Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Award Collection, The University of Georgia Libraries, Athens, Ga.  Cite as: WSB-TV newsfilm clip of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. responding to a reporter's question about president John F. Kennedy's speech on civil rights and the murder of Medgar Evers, Atlanta, Georgia, 1963 June 12, WSB-TV newsfilm collection, reel 0870, 32:13/33:20, Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection, The University of Georgia Libraries, Athens, Ga.

http://54.245.164.12:3000/dlg/items/mp4/ugabma_wsbn_40931.mp4

Digital Library of Georgia

<p>In 1964 Martin Luther King, Jr. was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his dynamic leadership of the Civil Rights movement and steadfast commitment to achieving racial justice through nonviolent action. King accepted the award on December 10, 1964 in Oslo, Norway on behalf of the civil rights movement and pledged the prize money to the movement's continued development. At the age of thirty-five, King became the youngest man, and only the second African American, to receive the prestigious award.  These video clips provide only a sampling of the breadth and depth of King’s civil rights leadership which led to his Nobel Peace Prize.</p>

WSB-TV newsfilm clip of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. speaking about freedom and the civil rights movement at an outdoor rally held in Atlanta, Georgia, 1963 December 15

In this WSB newsfilm clip from Atlanta, Georgia on December 15, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. speaks at an outdoor rally about freedom and the civil rights movement in Atlanta. Several breaks interrupt the clip; some comments may not be recorded completely.

Courtesy of Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Award Collection, The University of Georgia Libraries, Athens, Ga.  Cite as: WSB-TV newsfilm clip of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. speaking about freedom and the civil rights movement at an outdoor rally held in Atlanta, Georgia, 1963 December 15, WSB-TV newsfilm collection, reel 0865, 39:07/45:35, Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection, The University of Georgia Libraries, Athens, Ga.

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WSB-TV newsfilm clip of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. speaking about "black power" and segregationist Lester Maddox's campaign for governor, Atlanta, Georgia, 1966 October 9

In this WSB newsfilm clip from Atlanta, Georgia, on October 9, 1966 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. speaks about "black power" and segregationist Lester Maddox's campaign for governor of Georgia. The clip begins with Dr. King sitting at a table at an outdoor press conference surrounded by reporters and photographers. Apparently responding to a question, King clarifies that he believes in the idea of "black power" if it means "amassing political and economic strength so that the Negro can achieve his legitimate goals."  He condemns the connotations of separatism and violence that surround the phrase declaring that "there is no salvation of the Negro through isolation" and that violence "only serves to relieve the guilt of the white community while increasing their fears."  The camera focuses for a moment on a woman who is standing on a balcony and looking down on the press conference below. Next King asserts that gubernatorial candidate Lester Maddox cannot stop the civil rights movement; continuing King suggests that Maddox through his extremism unites African Americans and white moderates. He concludes that the civil rights movement will continue whether or not Maddox is elected. The philosophy of "black power" as embraced and endorsed by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) supported African American independence and even supremacy over white citizens and culture. The move by SNCC and CORE towards "black power" increased the tensions and division between these organizations and other civil rights groups including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) which remained more concerned with obtaining legal rights and economic opportunities.

Courtesy of Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Award Collection, The University of Georgia Libraries, Athens, Ga.  Cite as: WSB-TV newsfilm clip of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. speaking about "black power" and segregationist Lester Maddox's campaign for governor, Atlanta, Georgia, 1966 October 9, WSB-TV newsfilm collection, reel 1351, 56:05/58:14, Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection, The University of Georgia Libraries, Athens, Ga.

http://54.245.164.12:3000/dlg/items/mp4/ugabma_wsbn_50205.mp4

WSB-TV newsfilm clip of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. speaking about presidential candidates for the 1968 election, the Vietnam War, and interactions with Stokely Carmichael during a press conference held at Ebenezer Baptist Church, Atlanta, Georgia, 1967 April 25

In this WSB newsfilm clip probably from April 25, 1967 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. speaks to reporters at a press conference held at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia about presidential candidates for the 1968 election; the Vietnam War; and interactions with Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) leader Stokely Carmichael. Comments in the clip are not always completely recorded. Dr. King sits at a table with microphones in front of him. Fellow Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) leader reverend Andrew Young stands beside him. King begins by mentioning newspaper articles advocating that he become a presidential candidate for the 1968 election; he announces that he will not do so. Next King warns of a potential national disaster if the United States government continues to focus on war at the expense of racial equality. Even if the Vietnam War escalates and "make relevant an independent candidacy" King proclaims that he will not consider a political office. When an off-screen reporter asks King who he thinks would make a good candidate for president King avoids the question by asserting his hope for an end of the Vietnam War, which he believes would make an independent candidacy unnecessary, and reiterating that SCLC does not endorse political candidates. Although he has no basis for his hope that the war will end King believes that millions of citizens will "oppose this war very vigorously" and that this opposition to the war will encourage the government to change its position. After this the discussion turns to SNCC leader Stokely Carmichael; although King and Carmichael do not agree on everything King points out they both oppose the Vietnam War and encourage African American freedom in the United States. King suggests that there are some positive aspects to the "black power" slogan as long as the slogan does not involve or embrace violence. King cites a conflict between what Carmichael has said to him privately that opposes violence and what the media portrays as Carmichael's position advocating violence. King attributes a recent conflict in Nashville, Tennessee following a Carmichael appearance to existing conditions of poverty, police brutality, and despair, not to Carmichael. After a break in the clip King suggests that African Americans are capable of being president but have been unable to do so because they have been "held out of the political arena."  Asked about a possibility of Alabama governor George Wallace as a presidential candidate King condemns Wallace for "eighteenth century thinking that has no place in the twentieth century."  He insists that a Wallace campaign would "create the atmosphere for new bigotry, new hatred, and ultimately new violence."  The clip ends with King commenting again about the Vietnam War, proposing that if the boxer Cassius Clay, known also as Muhammad Ali, is jailed for refusing to go to war, other young men in the country will consider the possibility of refusing the draft. Muhammad Ali was convicted of refusing induction into the army and was stripped of his professional boxing titles in 1967.

Courtesy of Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Award Collection, The University of Georgia Libraries, Athens, Ga.  Cite as: WSB-TV newsfilm clip of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. speaking about presidential candidates for the 1968 election, the Vietnam War, and interactions with Stokely Carmichael during a press conference held at Ebenezer Baptist Church, Atlanta, Georgia, 1967 April 25, WSB-TV newsfilm collection, reel 1387, 00:00/05:30, Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection, The University of Georgia Libraries, Athens, Ga.

http://54.245.164.12:3000/dlg/items/mp4/ugabma_wsbn_51565.mp4

Activism in the US

King's Nobel Prize

King's Nobel Prize