Martin Luther King Jr.

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Civil Rights Leader Jesse Jackson Dies at 84

'Our father was a servant leader,' says family

(Newser) - The Rev. Jesse Jackson, civil rights icon, Baptist minister, veteran organizer, and two-time Democratic presidential candidate, died Tuesday at 84, his family announced. They said he died peacefully, surrounded by relatives; no cause of death was given, though Jackson had suffered from poor health in his later years, reports NBC...

On This Year's Holiday, Many MLK Admirers Are Worried

King's son sees an attempt to 'erase' history in the second Trump administration

(Newser) - As communities across the country on Monday host parades, panels, and service projects for the 40th federal observation of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the political climate for some is more fraught with tensions than festive, reports the AP . In the year since President Trump's second inauguration fell on...

Trump's Birthday Replaces Juneteenth as Free NPS Day

MLK Jr. Day also yanked off of list of 'patriotic' free entrance days to national parks

(Newser) - Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth are two federal holidays no longer included on the NPS list of entrance-free days to the country's national parks—but June 14, which is both President Trump's birthday and Flag Day, is now on that list. TMZ notes that the shift...

Trump Releases MLK Jr. Files Despite Family's Objection

240K pages of records had been under seal for decades

(Newser) - The Trump administration released records of the FBI's surveillance of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. on Monday, despite opposition from the slain Nobel laureate's family and the civil rights group that he led until his 1968 assassination. The release involves more than 240,000 pages of records...

Don't Expect Those MLK Files Anytime Soon

Judge seeks careful review amid pushback from Dr. King's allies

(Newser) - A federal judge in Washington has signaled he may accelerate the release of documents tied to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination in response to President Trump's executive order . But during a Wednesday hearing, Judge Richard Leon made clear that any move would be a slow...

Trump Releasing More King, Kennedy Assassination Files

Slain president's grandson objects to declassification

(Newser) - An executive order signed by President Trump on Thursday calls for making thousands of documents related to the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, and Martin Luther King Jr. public. "Lot of people are waiting for this a long, for years, for decades," Trump said, per...

MLK Daughter: It's 'Wonderful' Holiday Is Inauguration Day

'There can be a juxtapositioning of vision,' adds Atlanta preacher

(Newser) - Donald Trump's inauguration will steal the thunder, but Monday also is Martin Luther King Jr. Day. This is only the third time the federal holiday—always on the third Monday in January—has coincided with a presidential inauguration, notes USA Today . It happened previously in 1997 (Bill Clinton) and...

Two States Will Honor King Along With Robert E. Lee

Efforts to change that have failed in Alabama and Mississippi

(Newser) - The federal holiday set aside to honor the life of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. is Monday. And in Alabama and Mississippi, Monday is also set aside to honor Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. The two state governments created holidays more than a century ago to honor Lee and...

Jesse Jackson's Successor Exits Civil Rights Organization

He'd taken over leadership of Rainbow PUSH Coalition, founded by Jackson in 1971

(Newser) - The successor to the Rev. Jesse Jackson at the civil rights leader's Rainbow PUSH Coalition is stepping down from the organization after less than three months. The Rev. Frederick Haynes III, a Dallas pastor, tells the AP he submitted his resignation Tuesday. "I remain committed to honoring the...

MLK's Youngest Son Is Dead at 62
MLK's Youngest
Son Is Dead at 62
Jan 22, 2024 1:53 PM CST

MLK's Youngest Son Is Dead at 62

Dexter Scott King had prostate cancer

(Newser) - Dexter Scott King, the youngest son of Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King, has died after battling prostate cancer, per the AP . The King Center in Atlanta, which Dexter King served as chairman, said the 62-year-old son of the civil rights icon died at his home in Malibu,...

King Day Events Address Rights, 'Our Humanity' at Risk
Politics Touch King Day Events
Jan 15, 2024 6:40 PM CST

Politics Touch King Day Events

'Our humanity is literally under attack,' civil rights leader's daughter says

(Newser) - Communities across the nation celebrated the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday on Monday with acts of service, prayer services, and parades. But with the November presidential election as a backdrop, some events took on a political turn. In King's hometown of Atlanta, several speakers at the 56th annual commemorative...

RFK Jr.: Dad, JFK Had to Allow Wiretapping of MLK

Presidential candidate says 'politically' they had to do it

(Newser) - Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was defending his father and uncle's approval of the wiretapping of Martin Luther King Jr. on the eve of the holiday honoring the civil rights leader. In an interview with Politico while he was campaigning in Atlanta on Sunday, RFK Jr. explained that in his...

Emmys Pick 10 Biggest Moments in TV History

From Beatles and MLK Jr., all the way through 9/11 coverage, these moments made an impression

(Newser) - The Emmys take place Monday, and it's the awards ceremony's 75th anniversary of celebrating the best on the boob tube. To honor that milestone, the Television Academy assembled members and academics who sifted through more than seven decades of TV gold, including news reports, sitcoms, dramas, variety shows,...

Tourists Save 'Important Part of American History' From Arson

Individuals intervened after seeing woman pouring gas on Atlanta home where MLK Jr. was born: cops

(Newser) - An attempt to burn down the home in which Martin Luther King Jr. was born was thwarted Thursday thanks in part to a couple of tourists, according to Atlanta Police. Two visitors from Utah initially spotted a woman pouring gasoline on the building, which was closed last month for extensive...

New Generation Commits to King's Dream
New Generation
Commits to King's Dream
photos
Aug 26, 2023 5:20 PM CDT

New Generation Commits to King's Dream

Thousands mark 60th anniversary of March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom

(Newser) - Thousands of people on Saturday retraced the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, declaring his dream unrealized 60 years later and calling out new threats it faces. Speakers detailed the national changes since as many as 250,000 gathered at the Lincoln...

It Was a Famed MLK Interview. It Might Not Be Accurate

Author Jonathan Eig suggests MLK's comments on Malcolm X are different than what ran

(Newser) - Martin Luther King Jr. may have not said the harsh words about Malcolm X that are famously attributed to him—or, at least, not about Malcolm X directly. That's author Jonathan Eig's takeaway after reading what appears to be an unedited transcript of the full interview between King...

CEO Sorry for 'All Time Classic Bad' Layoff Memo

Quoting MLK was 'inappropriate,' admits PagerDuty CEO Jennifer Tejada

(Newser) - PagerDuty CEO Jennifer Tejada announced she was laying off 7% of the company's workforce seven paragraphs into a 1,700-word email to employees that referred to the firings as "refinements," included news of executive promotions, and concluded with a quote from Martin Luther King Jr. "I...

MLK's 'I Have a Dream' Line May Not Have Been Planned
5 Lesser-Known
Facts About MLK
Jan 16, 2023 9:07 AM CST

5 Lesser-Known Facts About MLK

He was at first named Michael, and his 'dream' line may have been improvised in his famous speech

(Newser) - It's come to be known as his "I Have a Dream Speech," but Martin Luther King Jr. apparently didn't originally intend to mention the word "dream" at all on the National Mall that day in 1963. As the nation observes the MLK holiday Monday, a...

At King's Church, Biden Preaches His Message

The fight for the nation's soul is constant, president tells congregation

(Newser) - On what would have been the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s 94th birthday, President Biden took to the pulpit at the civil rights leader's church and said the country is at an "inflection point." The dream King spoke about at the National Mall 60 years...

MLK, Wife Paid Hospital Bill for Birth of Julia Roberts

They helped her family 'out of a jam,' Roberts says

(Newser) - Julia Roberts recently shared a little-known tidbit of family history—when she was born in Smyrna, Georgia, 55 years ago, the hospital bill was paid by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and his wife, Coretta Scott King. In a HISTORYTalks interview last month that went viral after it was...

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