Digital Media Center
Bryant-Denny Stadium, Gate 61
920 Paul Bryant Drive
Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0370
(800) 654-4262

© 2024 Alabama Public Radio
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Fred Gray receives highest civilian honor

Stan Ingold
/
Alabama Public Radio

The Alabama attorney who represented Doctor Martin Luther King, Junior and Rosa Parks now wears the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Tuskegee lawyer Fred Gray joined actor Denzel Washington and Olympic champion Simone Biles in receiving the nation’s highest civilian honor.

The civil rights icon was the lead off interview during APR’s international award-winning documentary “The King of Alabama.” Gray recalled when he heard that Doctor King had been assassinated in 1968.

“I think initially most people heard it on the media, and those who heard it, told other people about it, so the news spread like wildfire. There wasn’t any question about that.”

He talked about how quiet Doctor Martin Luther King, junior was in private…

“If you did not know him, and had never heard anything about him, and were to go into a room where he was seated, he was a person who would not monopolize a conversation.”

You can hear “The King of Alabama” by clicking here.

Lacey Alexander is a digital intern for Alabama Public Radio.
Related Content
  • “If you did not know him, and had never heard anything about him, and were to go into a room where he was seated, he was a person who would not monopolize…
  • “If you did not know him, and had never heard anything about him, and were to go into a room where he was seated, he was a person who would not monopolize…
  • From April of 2018...“If you did not know him, and had never heard anything about him, and were to go into a room where he was seated, he was a person who…
News from Alabama Public Radio is a public service in association with the University of Alabama. We depend on your help to keep our programming on the air and online. Please consider supporting the news you rely on with a donation today. Every contribution, no matter the size, propels our vital coverage. Thank you.