Tuesday, May 17, 2016

King, Kennedy and the Black Vote

By Frances Rice

From the producers of Oscar Micheaux The Czar of Black Hollywood comes "King, Kennedy and the Black Vote" taken from IN THE HOUR CHAOS (2016) that documents the life and times of Martin Luther King Sr. (aka Daddy King).

 
In 1960, John F. Kennedy asked Harris Wofford to join his presidential campaign and work on winning over the "Negro vote".
When Martin Luther King, Jr. was sentenced to hard labor in a Georgia prison for a minor traffic violation shortly before the election, Wofford persuaded Kennedy to call King's wife, Coretta Scott King, who was in an advanced stage of pregnancy; as well as, get his brother, Robert Kennedy, to assist with Martin's release.
This prompted Martin Luther King, Sr. (Daddy King) to publicly switch his endorsement from Richard Nixon to Kennedy.
JFK's team actually opposed this move for fear of alienating the Southern populist leaders Kennedy was also courting support from.
That Kennedy had called King's wife was subsequently leaked and shifted the African American vote in Kennedy's favor nationally, to which many attribute his slim victory over Nixon.