Martin Luther King Jr.: His Rise as a National Media Figure
More than 50 years after he died at age 39 from an assassin’s bullet, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. endures as one of the most influential and recognizable figures in American history.
His rise from the pulpit of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta to his groundbreaking work as a founder and leader of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference made him the driving force of the Civil Rights movement of the mid-20th century.
King was not yet 30 when he first made his mark on the national stage. His forceful use of non-violent protest, boycotts and civil disobedience to address the deplorable racism and the legal, political and economic discrimination that Black Americans faced made him a compelling personality at a time when local and national TV news was strengthening as a cultural force. King’s message and mission was embraced by prominent Hollywood liberals who helped bring more attention to the righteous causes championed by King and the SCLC.
King made his first appearance in Variety in the Sept. 4, 1957, New York-based weekly edition, in a story about NBC’s new Sunday public affairs series “Look Here,” hosted by journalist Martin Agronsky.
King was among the early guests on the show, putting him in the company of then-Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, then-Senator John F. Kennedy, playwright Tennessee Williams and authors Aldous Huxley and Howard Fast.
As the nation observes the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday, here is a look at key moments in his public life as chronicled in the pages of Variety.