6 Degrees of MLK
by Charlie Thomas
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posted Jan 14 2010 7:21PM
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 My family had a unique connection to Martin Luther King, Jr.--from the very beginning, and at the very end. My Uncle Paul was a free-lance photographer in Montgomery, Alabama in the mid 50's, and often was at the police station looking for a story. He was there when Rosa Parks was arrested in Dec 1955--but didn't take any photos, because he thought the story wouldn't be published! MLK was a preacher in town at that time, and organized the infamous Montgomery bus boycott..one of the earliest civil rights actions. When King was arrested for civil disobedience in Feb 1956, Uncle Paul would NOT make the same mistake twice. He was at the police station when this "mug shot" of MLK was taken...and snapped his own photos at the scene. One shot was published in Life magazine the next week. For a while, my uncle became the "go-to" photographer in that area for the major magazines --until the KKK burned a cross in his yard. Fearing for the safety of his family, Paul stopped taking controversial photos, and opened a successful studio in Montgomery. As for the end.....Dr King was in Memphis (my hometown) in April 1968 in support of the sanitation workers' strike. As you may know..MLK was assassinated April 4, 1968 at the Lorraine Motel. My father, a Memphis city policeman, was not on duty at the time, but in an unmarked radio car--less than a mile from the scene. In the mid 90's, my dad took me to the site, and recalled the tragedy to me. Many years have gone by...and tho we may NOT have made it all the way to the "promised land"--I feel our country HAS made some progress...and thru sad twists of fate, my family brushed VERY closely with one of the key players...MLK.
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