Seattle civil-rights leader speaks at Madison’s MLK Day assembly

With school now out for the three-day Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Day holiday weekend, many students will be coming home with stories about special assemblies in honor of Dr. King and what he stood for. Madison Middle School shares this photo of principal Henterson Carlisle (left) and house administrator Elizabeth Shields (right) with Madison’s special assembly speaker, Rev. Dr. Samuel McKinney, longtime Seattle civil-rights leader and friend of Dr. King. As noted in Rev. Dr. McKinney’s biography on HistoryLink, his many accomplishments include his longtime leadership of Seattle’s Mount Zion Baptist Church, as pastor from 1958-1998 (he is still listed there as its Pastor Emeritus). He invited Dr. King to Seattle for his only visit here, in November 1961 (HistoryLink tells that story too).

ADDED 7:42 PM: CC shared a photo too – her 8th-grade daughter Chanel with the Rev. Dr. McKinney and Madison’s Dr. Virgie Harris, the friend who invited him to speak at the school:

Big event at Madison next week, by the way – Literacy Night on Thursday (details here).

CJ January 13, 2012 (3:52 pm)

Very cool!

cclarue January 13, 2012 (4:12 pm)

A big rave from a parent at Madison!! This was an amazing way to start the holiday weekend. Dr. McKinney talked to the kids about integrity and accountability. He told us about his personal relationship with Dr. King and how they both grew up as sons of baptist ministers. He told us that Dr. King loved barbeque and the more burnt the better. Dr Harris urged the kids to go out and help someone in his honor for the holiday. I hope it was inspiring to the kids to see a personal friend of Dr King. I know i was inspired!!

WSB January 13, 2012 (4:18 pm)

Thanks for the details, CCL … we didn’t know about this ahead of time, or we would have covered it, with video! Rev. Dr. McKinney is a legend. – TR

cclarue January 13, 2012 (4:35 pm)

I certainly would have notified you if i had known he was going to be there. But I was surprised to see him as well. I went to see my daughter do a reading from the Little Rock Nine. They did video it as well so you may be able to get that from the school.