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Voices of King podcast continues with Joseph Lowery

Lowery (middle) sits with Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. (left) and Wyatt Tee Walker at the First African Baptist Church during an SCLC convention in Richmond. File photo
Lowery (middle) sits with Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. (left) and Wyatt Tee Walker at the First African Baptist Church during an SCLC convention in Richmond. File photo
April 13, 2022

How can you laugh when you are facing death every day? How can you bring yourself to even smile?

But it was humor in the face of danger and possible death, that stands out the most when the Rev. Joseph Lowery remembered his friend Martin Luther King Jr.

As The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Unapologetically ATL mark the 54 anniversary of Martin Luther King’s murder, we continue our podcast series, “The Voices of King,” with the Rev. Joseph Lowery.

Rev. Joseph Lowery reflected, "I miss him now, 40 years later, just as much as I did 40 minutes after I learned of his death."
Rev. Joseph Lowery reflected, "I miss him now, 40 years later, just as much as I did 40 minutes after I learned of his death."

Lowery, a Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient who delivered the benediction at the historic 2009 inauguration of Barack Obama as the country’s first Black president, died in 2020.

In 2008, on the 40th anniversary of King’s death, Abernathy was one of 13 people that The AJC sat down with to record their stories.

We are re-releasing these interviews as a 13-part podcast hosted by Multimedia Journalist Ryon Horne.

Voices of King: Joseph Lowery

In this episode of “The Voices of King,” Lowery dissects some of King’s sermons that made the civil rights icon a revolutionary leader.

Along with Earl Caldwell, Andrew Young, Tyrone Brooks, Christine King Farris, Martin Luther King III, Xernona Clayton and Bernice King, and those who have left us —Lowery, Juanita Abernathy, Ralph David Abernathy III, Rep. John Lewis, the Rev. Samuel Billy Kyles, Kathryn Johnson — each gives us a glimpse, through their relationships with King, inside the making of history.

Each episode will be made available through the Unapologetically ATL newsletter, but you can also subscribe to “The Voices of King” on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, Stitcher or wherever you get your podcasts so you never miss an episode.

About the Author

Ernie Suggs is an enterprise reporter covering race and culture for the AJC since 1997. A 1990 graduate of N.C. Central University and a 2009 Harvard University Nieman Fellow, he is also the former vice president of the National Association of Black Journalists. His obsession with Prince, Spike Lee movies, Hamilton and the New York Yankees is odd.

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