LibGuides: Martin Luther King, Jr. : Media

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David Susskind Archive: Interview with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1:41:55) David Susskind's historical, long and intimate interview with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Originally aired on June 19, 1963 by WPIX-TV New York. Among the subjects discussed were the current state of the American Civil Rights Movement and the recent (at that time) events in Birmingham, Alabama. Recently restored by the Paley Center.
HBO King In The Wilderness (1:51:34) From award-winning director/producer Peter Kunhardt, King in the Wilderness follows Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. during the volatile last three years of his life, from the passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965 to his assassination in April 1968. Drawing on revelatory stories from his inner circle of friends, the film provides a clear window into the civil rights leader’s character, showing him to be a man with an unshakeable commitment to peaceful protest in the face of an increasingly unstable country. Illuminating and poignant, the documentary – which is tied to the 50th anniversary of King’s death – reveals a conflicted leader whose successes were punctuated in his final years by an onslaught of criticism from both sides of the political spectrum, whether the Black Power movement, who saw his nonviolence as weakness, or President Lyndon B. Johnson, who viewed his anti-Vietnam War speeches as irresponsible. With compassion and clarity, King in the Wilderness unearths a stirring new perspective into Dr. King’s character, his radical doctrine of nonviolence, and his internal philosophical struggles prior to his death, inviting a sense of penetrating intimacy and insight into one of the most profound thinkers of our time.
Martin Luther King Jr. Delivers his " I Have Been to the Mountain Top" Speech ca. 1968 Copyright The WPA Film Library. (02:28) The day before he was assassinated, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered a speech in support of striking sanitation workers in Memphis. During the speech he noted that while he faced continued death threats, he believed that the civil rights movement would live on without him.
Martin Luther King Press Conference (29:03) This classic episode of Press Conference USA—a panel discussion in which well-known correspondents question a leading personality in the news—features the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King. Robert Lodge is moderator.
MLK/FBI (1:46:02) Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is remembered as an American hero: a bridge-builder, a shrewd political tactician, and a moral leader. Yet throughout his history-altering political career, he was often treated by U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies like an enemy of the state. In this virtuosic film, award-winning editor, and director Sam Pollard lays out a detailed account of the FBI surveillance that dogged King's activism throughout the '50s and '60s, fueled by the racist and red-baiting paranoia of J. Edgar Hoover. In crafting a rich archival tapestry, featuring some revelatory restored footage of King, Pollard urges us to remember that true American progress is always hard-won.
Moyers & Company: MLK's Dream of Economic Justice (56:47) Martin Luther King had long known that racial equality was inextricably linked to economic equity—fairness for all, including working people and the poor. In the last year of his life, Dr. King announced the Poor People’s Campaign to demand an “economic bill of rights” for all Americans, regardless of color. But nearly a half-century later, that dream is still a dream deferred. In this edition of Moyers & Company, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Taylor Branch and author and theologian James Cone join Bill to discuss Dr. King’s vision of economic justice…and why so little has changed for America’s most oppressed. Also on the show, poet Kyle Dargan, whose poetry provides a window into the humanity that Branch and Cone say is essential to get people working towards justice, visits Bill to talk about and read from his work. Broadcast date: April 5, 2013.
PBS In Remembrance of Martin (57:34) This documentary examines Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy. Filmed in Atlanta on the first federal holiday in his honor, an impressive group of distinguished public figures is interviewed, including former President Jimmy Carter, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Bishop Desmond Tutu, Rev. Ralph Abernathy, Julian Bond, Senator Edward Kennedy, Andrew Young, and Bill Cosby, among others. Archival footage recounts highlights of Dr. King’s actions and accomplishments in the civil rights movement: being fingerprinted after his arrest during the Montgomery bus boycott; his 1963 “I have a Dream” speech at the Lincoln Memorial; and his 1964 acceptance of the Nobel Peace Prize.
PBS Roads to Memphis (52:58) The wildly disparate yet fatefully entwined stories of assassin James Earl Ray and his target, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
This Day In History: December 10, 1964 – Martin Luther King Jr. Receives Nobel Peace Prize (00:54) Martin Luther King, Jr. receives the Nobel Peace Prize.

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King : Go Beyond the Dream to Discover the Man Forty years after Martin Luther King's assassination, newsman Tom Brokaw, takes viewers through the extraordinary life and times of America's civil rights visionary. Go beyond the legend to portray the man, the questions, the myths, and the relevance of Dr. King's message in today's world.

Demonstrators Travel to the March on Washington (1:08) The 1963 March on Washington was one of the largest civil rights demonstrations in the history of the United States. The demonstration was organized by A. Phillip Randolph, and brought together scores of civil rights groups, unions, and celebrities in demand of higher wages, desegregation, and federal civil rights legislation. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech during the march to a crowd of more than 250,000 people. Copyright The WPA Film Library.
Martin Luther King, Jr. on the Promised Land (2:41) In Memphis, the night before his assassination, Martin Luther King Jr. addresses an audience about going to the mountain and seeing the Promised Land.
Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" Speech (16:34) On August 28, 1963, from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his "I Have a Dream" speech to 200,000 listeners.