A recording of Martin Luther King Jr has been released to the public today as the nation observes the Civil Rights Leader’s birthday. The tape was discovered several years ago, and a portion of it was previously released in 2012. In the recording, an interviewer is heard speaking to Dr. King about nonviolence, his trip to Africa, and his imprisonment.
Much of the tape was released in 2012, but today the portion that dealt with Dr. King’s imprisonment and the roles of John F. Kennedy and his brother Robert in helping him to be released was played for the first time in the place where Dr. King was assassinated.
The reel was discovered in an attic in Chattanooga in 2012. Stephon Tull was going through old boxes that had been left by his father many years earlier. He stumbled across the reel, which was marked “Dr. King interview, Dec. 21, 1960,” and became excited that he has found a piece of history. The interview was done for a book that Tull’s father was compiling, but never completed. The reel was put into storage and forgotten for over fifty years.
Museum Recording Found
Another recording of Dr. King was also found recently by the New York State museum. This recording was found while museum associates were digitizing old audio and video feeds. It was a speech that was recorded on September 12, 1962 at the Park-Sheraton Hotel in New York City. The museum announced the find today, and the recording can be heard on the museum’s website.