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Posts tagged as “Martin Luther King Jr.”

President Obama to Deliver Commencement Speech at Morehouse College

By goodblacknews on February 17, 2013
Members of the Morehouse College 2002 graduating class sing their school song during commencement ceremonies May 19, 2002 in Atlanta. (Photo by Erik S. Lesser/Getty Images)

Members of the Morehouse College 2002 graduating class sing their school song during commencement ceremonies May 19, 2002 in Atlanta. (Photo by Erik S. Lesser/Getty Images)

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. (AP) — A White House official says President Barack Obama will deliver the commencement address at all-male Morehouse College in Atlanta this spring.  The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. is among the historically black institution’s alumni. Commencement is scheduled for May 19.
Obama typically speaks each spring at a handful of college and university commencement ceremonies, including at one of the military service academies.  Last year, he spoke at commencement ceremonies at all-female Barnard College in New York.
The White House official declined to speak for the record because the schedule of Obama’s commencement speeches has not been released.  The Atlanta Journal-Constitution first reported on Obama’s address at Morehouse.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press article by Darlene Superville via thegrio.com

"Betty & Coretta" Premieres on Lifetime Tonight

By goodblacknews on February 2, 2013

bettycoretta_575se
“Betty & Coretta,” the Lifetime original movie focussing on the unlikely friendship between Malcolm X’s wife Betty Shabazz and  Coretta Scott King, the wife of Martin Luther King Jr., premieres tonight at 8pmEST/7pmCST.  The movie stars Academy-Award nominee Angela Bassett as Mrs. King and Grammy-Award winner Mary J. Blige as Mrs. Shabazz. Check out the movie’s official site here for more information, trailers and interviews, or watch tonight and share your thoughts below.
article by Lori Lakin Hutcherson

Eight Fascinating Facts About Martin Luther King Jr.

By goodblacknews on January 21, 2013

The Martin Luther King Memorial is seen
At this time of year there are many different posts about Martin Luther King Jr.  Here are eight facts that are not commonly discussed:
Fact 1:  He was born Michael Luther King, Jr. January 15, 1929 in  Atlanta, Georgia.
Fact 2:  His father, Michael King, Sr., changed their names to Martin Luther King Sr. and Jr. when Martin Jr. was about five.
Fact 3: King was the youngest person, at the time, to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
Fact 4:  King authored six books published from 1958 through 1968, works on American race relations and collections of his sermons and lectures.
Fact 5: King stood behind President Lyndon B. Johnson as Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law.
Fact 6: Senate investigations revealed that the FBI illegally bugged King’s hotel rooms and home phone from 1962-1968.
Fact 7:  An ongoing controversy over the inscription on the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial which says “I was a drum major for justice, peace and righteousness.”, is taken from a 1968 King sermon, “If you want to say I was a drum major, say I was a drum major for justice, say I was a drum major for peace, I was a drum major for righteousness and all the other shallow things will not matter.”, at issue is also the cost to repair, change or delete the inscription.
Fact 8:  King met with President Dwight D. Eisenhower, along with Roy Wilkins, A. Philip Randolph, and Lester Grange on problems affecting black Americans. Making it an  interesting  fact that he actually met with two presidents about Civil Rights at different times.
article by Oretha Winston via theurbandaily.com

Google Honors Martin Luther King With Today's Search Page

By goodblacknews on January 21, 2013

Google MLK Day Seach Window
Search engine giant Google honors MLK Day with Martin Luther King Jr.’s image on its default page. To remember his life, contributions and the future he envisions, Google has a yearly Google Doodle for the day. Today, the Doodle is in shades of blue, green and yellow. With Dr. King’s face as one of the “O”s in the Google logo.
Google has had a Martin Luther King, Jr. logo since 2003, skipping some years but being consistent with the logo since 2006. To see all the past Google Doodles for Martin Luther King Day, see The Google Doodle directory.
article written by Barry Schwartz via searchengineland.com 
(article contributed by Lesa Lakin)

Murals of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

By goodblacknews on January 21, 2013
One of Camilo José Vergara’s photographs on view at the New-York Historical Society.

 

Since the 1970s Camilo José Vergara has been photographing murals of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. painted on walls in cities across the United States. Through them, he has documented social and political changes in the country itself. On a wall in the Callowhill section of Philadelphia, above, Dr. King is the potent orator of the Washington marches; on Frederick Douglass Boulevard in Harlem he’s a solitary, anxious visionary. In Los Angeles his figure is all but buried under fresh graffiti; in the South Bronx, the site of turf wars between blacks and Latinos in the 1970s, his face is scratched out.

Most of the murals were based on published images of Dr. King, edited to context. With trends in immigration, he takes on Latino and Asian features. Over time he is joined by a shifting pantheon of timely heroes: Malcolm X, Nelson Mandela, Michael Jackson and President Obama. As one person explained to Mr. Vergara: “Rosa Parks sat so Martin Luther King could walk. Martin Luther King walked so Obama could run. Obama ran so we all can fly.” On the evidence of the 30 pictures in “The Dream Continues: Photographs of Martin Luther King Murals by Vergara” at the New-York Historical Society through May 5, the popularity of other heroes brightens and fades while Dr. King’s mystique lives on.

article by Holland Cotter via nytimes.com

Born On This Day in 1929: Reverend and Civil Rights Leader Martin Luther King, Jr.

By goodblacknews on January 15, 2013

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oehry1JC9Rk&w=420&h=315]
Martin-Luther-King-Jr-9365086-2-402Although Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday will not be nationally observed until January 21st this year, we want to honor King today as well, on his actual day of birth.  Learn more about this monumental agent of change, his life and work on biography.com, and watch his famous last speech “I’ve Been To The Mountaintop” above.
article by Lori Lakin Hutcherson

Florida Youth in Manatee County Work to Keep Martin Luther King Legacy Alive

By goodblacknews on January 12, 2013

Bre’Yahna Thompson, 15, of Bradenton, foreground, calls herself a “positive rapper,” and is very tuned in to the teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Behind Bre’Yahna is her father, Rodney Thompson. RICHARD DYMOND/Bradenton Herald
PALMETTO — Like other communities getting set to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on Jan. 21, Manatee County’s religious leaders wonder if Dr. King’s message of brotherhood, nonviolence and persistence is getting through to the younger generation.  One way that is working, say local pastors, is the recently completed Dr. Martin Luther King Speech and Essay Contest in Manatee County, which involved more than 300 young people writing essays and researching King’s life and work.
Another way is through church, where pastors say a moment of silence and some discussion will be the hallmark of services on Jan. 20 and where a local Jewish temple is holding an interfaith Shabbat service honoring the civil rights leader.
But one talented young local African-American woman is trying another way to share King’s ideals.  She wants to use music to reach her generation.  Bre’Yahna Thompson, 15, a Bradenton home-schooler who writes poetry, plays the violin and cello, and calls herself a “positive rapper,” is working on a rap song about King that she calls, “The Story of a Leader.”

Smithsonian Exhibit Parallels Emancipation, Civil rights

By goodblacknews on December 18, 2012
Smithsonian parallels Emancipation, Civil Rights

Smithsonian parallels Emancipation, Civil Rights

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation and Martin Luther King Jr.’s March on Washington for Civil Rights were 100 years apart, but both changed the nation and expanded freedoms.

Beginning Friday, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture is presenting a walk back in time through two eras. A new exhibit, “Changing America,” parallels the 1863 emancipation of slaves with the 1963 March on Washington.

Rare Black Images From Ebony Magazine Finally Available To Public

By goodblacknews on December 3, 2012

Eartha Kitt (left); Dizzy Gillespie (Ebony Collection)

You’ve heard the expression “a picture is worth a thousand words.” Photos have the ability to tell complex stories, convey important information and elicit emotional responses from viewers who may know nothing of the subject matter. One frame can change the world. Think of the iconic photographs that have come to symbolize a movement, a way of being or a slice of life.

Joe Rosenthal’s “Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima“; Moneta Sleet Jr.’s “Deep Sorrow,” featuring Coretta Scott King at the funeral of Martin Luther King Jr.; James Van Der Zee’s photo of black nationalist and pan-Africanist Marcus Garvey; Elizabeth “Tex” Williams’ war photographs; Art Kane’s “A Great Day in Harlem“; Gordon Parks’ “American Gothic“; Carrie Mae Weems’ “Kitchen Table Series“; and Jean Moutoussamy-Ashe’s photo book, Daddy and Me, featuring images of her late husband, tennis legend and civil rights activist Arthur Ashe, with their daughter, Camera. 

Photos offer us a peek into unknown worlds and, in some cases, worlds we know all too well. Chronicling our lives and society, they capture history and the profound experiences of a complex world. The Johnson Publishing Co.’s Ebony Collection, now available to the public for the first time, does just that. This historic photo archive offers 2,000 photos taken over the last 70 years, documenting the rich and layered black experience in the United States.

Museum to Open Balcony Where MLK was Assassinated

By goodblacknews on November 4, 2012

The National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis plans to open the balcony where Martin Luther King Jr. was shot to the public.

The museum was built around and includes the old Lorraine Motel, where King was checked in when he was assassinated in 1968. Visitors had been able to see the balcony where King was shot but couldn’t stand on it.

The museum’s main building will close at the end of the day Monday for renovations. Officials hope to open the balcony to the public on Nov. 19, and they’re installing a lift for disabled visitors.

A museum annex that includes the boardinghouse from which James Earl Ray shot at King also will be open during the renovation.
Read more at http://www.eurweb.com/2012/11/museum-to-open-balcony-where-mlk-was-assassinated/#xxt2qiuo4DerXQ3q.99