Before MLK went to Memphis to support striking sanitation workers, he had a trip planned to Africa. I haven’t found out much on exactly where he was headed, though.
Anyone???
(I know he had been to Africa, previously, but I’m referring specifically to his planned trip of spring of '68.)
:tap tap tap: Is this thing on?
So ten years later at least I know where. Anyway, King’s trip to Biafra in March 1968 was canceled. Any idea on
a) Why his planned message was to Biafra, and
b) Why (and by whom) was his trip canceled? (Other than it seemed like a really bad idea.)
Edit: Surprisingly, at least to me, Lt. Col Odumegwu Ojuku lived to a relatively ripe old age of 78, dying in 2011.
I don’t know. Have you checked Taylor Branch’s Pulitzer-winning series America in the King Years? It’s pretty much the go-to book on MLK’s later life and ministry. The last volume, At Canaan’s Edge, goes up through King’s death in 1968.
I assume you know that was in the middle of the war to crush the Biafran secessionist state. Wiki link
I don’t know how much coverage it got in the US but in the UK it was a major story for months as the Biafran territory was gradually overrun by the Nigerian army. It was a major humanitarian disaster, not helped at all by health workers, hospitals, etc. being attacked by Nigerian forces.
I’m pretty sure all the advice to pretty much anybody would have been to stay away.
That’s pretty much what I would assume, but it would be good to have some corroboration. When I originally posted the question, there was hardly any info about anything on Wikipedia. Also, I didn’t know it was Biafra he was visiting, just somewhere in Africa.
I don’t think the Nigerian civil war got a lot of exposure stateside. My only experience with it was the Littleton Coin Company was selling ‘collectible’ Biafran currency (at steadily lower and lower prices).
I was born well after the conflict happened; the only reason I knew it occurred was when someone explained the stage name of Dead Kennedys’ lead singer to me.
