Saving Stories: Interviews with Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X

Martin Luther King Jr.The latest edition of Saving Stories on WUKY features Dr. Doug Boyd and Alan Lytle discussing one of the Nunn Center’s premiere collection of interviews with leaders of the  Civil Rights Movement. These oral history interviews were conducted by Kentucky native, author, and first poet laureate of the United States, Robert Penn Warren in 1964 as research for his book Who Speaks for the Negro? (New York, Random House, 1965).

In this episode, Warren interviews, on separate occasions,  both Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X and explores their divergent philosophies toward leadership and their responses to racial oppression.   Martin Malcolm XLuther King Jr. describes his philosophy regarding  non-violence and Malcolm X discusses his advocacy for fighting oppression “by any means necessary.” Robert Penn Warren engages each one of these leaders with an intellectual curiosity that sparks inspiring and fascinating conversation.

Listen to Interview on WUKY  (subscribe to the podcast as well!)

If you want to access the entire oral history collection online, visit the Nunn Center on the  Kentuckiana Digital Library.