Tag: Martin Luther King Jr.

In 1961, Martin Luther King Jr. was as potent with his civil rights movement nationally as he was in his native Atlanta. Henry Louis Aaron was also shining during his eighth Major League Baseball season with the Milwaukee Braves and his seventh consecutive season as an All-Star. Fate brought them together five years later.

He isn’t famous, though arguably he should be. “J.T. was a personal assistant to Martin Luther King and Ralph Abernathy,” says Andrew Young, “and he was a friend of mine.” Johnson was a leader of the Ground Crew, a sort of special forces unit within Dr. Martin Luther King’s organization the SCLC—the Southern Christian Leadership Council—and he ran operations in the streets of nearly every city where the movement played out.

During a reflective conversation this week in the Trumpet Awards Foundation’s 10th floor conference room overlooking the downtown skyline, Clayton discussed key moments from her trailblazing life in Atlanta, from her unexpected friendship with Calvin Craig, the grand dragon of Georgia’s Ku Klux Klan at the height of the civil rights movement, to her groundbreaking WAGA-TV The Xernona Clayton Show and the powerful final gift she was able to give to her boss Dr. King in 1968 in the hours after his assassination.

It’s January, the coldest month in Atlanta. Despite the chill, the streets of the Sweet Auburn Historic District come alive every year on the third Monday of the month, when the city celebrates the birthday and legacy of iconic Atlantan Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

As the civil rights movement unfolded in Atlanta, leaders and organizers came to the table, quite literally, in a coterie of Black-owned restaurants.

While previous seasons of National Geographic's Genius series told the story of just one person, the most recent season, MLK/X, parallels and contrasts the life journeys of two iconic Black leaders: Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. Here, showrunners Raphael Jackson Jr. and Damione Macedon discuss creating the series and filming in Atlanta.

Food writer and Atlanta native Stephen Satterfield takes viewers on a wide-ranging journey in the critically-acclaimed Netflix series, High on the Hog. The series, an adaptation of the book written by food historian Dr. Jessica B. Harris, digs deep into the rich history of Black American food. Whereas the show's first season explored the history of Black American food in relation to its West African roots and the impacts of slavery, season two uncovers the role that Black American cuisine has played in fueling social justice movements, transforming communities, and awakening cultural creativity.

The Atlanta University Center has shaped generations of leaders—for the nation and for their home city. Atlanta would be nothing like it is today without it.

A roundup of yearbook photos of famous Atlanta University Center alumni, including Martin Luther King Jr., Samuel L. Jackson. Raphael Warnock, Stacey Abrams, Tayari Jones, and more.

Like the rest of John Lewis’s life, the First Day of Issue Dedication Ceremony for his United States Postal Service Forever stamp, held Friday afternoon at the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel at Morehouse College, proved emotional, inspirational, and educational.