Kenny Cooper (pictured above), a 2016 Cheltenham High graduate and a suburban reporter for WHYY, has published a feature article about the 60th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King’s speech at Cheltenham High School.
As part of the Cheltenham Township Adult School’s (CTAS) now-defunct 5-Star Forum, Dr. King spoke about “Race Relations” to a sold out standing-room-only crowd in the CHS auditorium. Other speakers that day included Art Buchwald, Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis, Cooper wrote.
The article includes a copy of an old program (pictured above and below) courtesy of Cheltenham resident Donald Scott, as well as a brief history of CTAS, which was able to bring in some of the era’s household names for lectures: Maya Angelou, John Updike, Danny Glover, Margaret Meed, David Brinkley, Hal Holbrook, Abe Fortas, George McGovern, Beverly Sills, and Ralph Nader, among others.
Cooper goes on to detail some of Dr. King’s connections to greater Philadelphia, including the late Rev. Dr. Robert Johnson Smith Sr. of Salem Baptist Church (previously located in Jenkintown), where Dr. King spoke on September 11, 1960 and October 27, 1963.
According to The Philadelphia Tribune, Salem’s service itinerary included the benediction’s civil rights song, “We Shall Overcome,” and King’s sermon delivered a call for determination to end injustice throughout the world through non-violent direct action against discrimination and bigotry.
According to the contract pictured below, Dr. King was paid $1,000 plus transportation costs for the CTAS speech:
In January 1964, Dr. King appeared on the cover of Time magazine as its “Man of the Year”, a cover he had previously graced in 1957 when he was featured for his role in the Montgomery bus boycott.
For Cooper’s WHYY article, you can click here. He graduated in 2020 from Temple University with a BA in journalism and political science.
Prior to WHYY, he covered Pennsylvania state politics through an Election SOS fellowship at the Pennsylvania Capital-Star. In early 2020, Kenny was selected to be a participant in the POLITICO Journalism Institute. He has interned at numerous news outlets, including CNN, NBC News & MSNBC, NBC Sports Philadelphia, and FOX 29.
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5-Star Forum Photos: Kenny Cooper, WHYY