1960 MLK Interview

Nanny Jack & Co.

1960 MLK Interview

Original tape of 7.5-minute radio interview with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. - 12/30/1960

This is a most rare and precious piece of African American history! Jerry Tucker, a popular radio personality with WNOO Radio in Chattanooga, TN in the 50's and 60's, interviewed Dr. King on December 30, 1960. Dr. King had just arrived in Chattanooga, where he was scheduled to deliver a speech later that evening (at Memorial Auditorium on Maccallie avenue). The topic of his speech was to be "The Negro and the American Dream." (An original tape recording of that speech is also for sale. Click here for more information.)

A principal purpose of Tucker's 7.5-minute interview with Dr. King was to promote awareness of that speech, but the interview covered a wide range of additional topics, including:

	Dr. King's speculation that "it may well be that the Negro will serve as a savior of our Nation, that it is to save the soul of our Nation."
	The role played by President-elect Kennedy (as well as Robert Kennedy) in securing Dr. King's release from jail when he was arrested the previous October during a sit-in in Atlanta.
	The expected birth of Dr. King's third child, Dexter, who was born one month later. (Dr. King expressed his preference for a son, admitting that was "a little of his masculine ego coming out.")
	A summary of the doctrine of non-violence, which he defined as "a method to secure a moral end through moral means," and which he related to Christian love by saying that "if one is truly non-violent that person has a loving spirit."
	His assessment of the strategy of lunch counter sit-ins in the South as being unique because it "represents struggle on the highest level of dignity and discipline." He also said that the movement had been very successful in terms of results achieved, claiming that 112 cities in border and Southern states had desegregated their lunch counters to date.
	The solidarity between African Americans and Africans, who viewed the American fight against racism as part of their resistance to colonialism. He spoke of an international freedom movement, noting that between his visits to Africa in 1957 and 1960 (just three weeks before his visit to Chattanooga), the number of independent nations in Africa had risen from 7 to 27.

Since this interview was aired in December 1960, it has never been aired or heard again.* The tape has remained locked away until 2003, when it re-surfaced. This tape is a treasure for any museum or other serious collectors of African Americana.

* One exception: In August 2004, a local news station in Indianapolis, IN, aired a 3-minute story on the tapes. As part of the story, one very brief segment of the tape was aired.

** Photo by Larry Dion and downloaded from Seattle Times archives (www.seattletimes.com). Photo not included with item for sale.

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Last modified: 09/22/05