Remembering Atlanta’s Civil Rights Struggle

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in October 1960 with Lonnie King.

AP Photo

During this Spring Fund Drive, we’re looking back at some of our favorite work we’ve brought you on City Café in recent months.

August 28th, 2013 marked the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, which culminated in Martin Luther King, Junior’s historic “I Have a Dream” speech.

Lonnie C. King, Junior and Constance Curry are two lifelong activists and educators who were active in the Atlanta Student Movement that led up to the March. The movement in Atlanta fought for racial integration through boycotts of downtown businesses and sit-ins at Rich’s Department store. It was largely galvanized by the landmark sit-ins in Greensboro, North Carolina in 1960.

In August, King and Curry appeared at the Cyclorama for a conversation following a screening of the documentary King: A Filmed Recordan event co-sponsored by the National Center for Civil and Human Rights. 

They joined us in our studios to talk a little about the Atlanta Student Movement and Dr. King’s image in the public imagination.

Dan Raby/WABE

Broadcast version of story that aired Friday, August 23, 2013