As the nation honors the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., tune into New Hampshire Public Radio for three specials exploring Dr. King’s remarkable life, beliefs and legacy.

Saturday, January 16

10 p.m. – 11 p.m. (Best of Public Radio slot)

For the first special, join NHPR for MLK: Three Landmark Speeches, from our public media partners at PRX. In 2014, producer Paul Ingles asked two leading King scholars to pick three of Dr. King’s most important speeches from the 1960s. Listeners will hear from the late Dr. Vincent Harding, Professor of Religion and Social Transformation at the Illiff School of Theology in Denver, Colorado. Harding was a personal friend and speechwriting colleague of Dr. King in the 1960s. In addition, listeners will hear from Dr. Clayborne Carson, who has been directing the King Papers Project since 1985.

Scholars chose the following speeches:

• King’s last address, the night before his assassination in 1968;
•  the speech he made a year to the day before he was killed, called “Beyond Vietnam”;
• Dr. King’s remarks that he made at the conclusion of the Selma to Montgomery marches in March of 1965, considered a turning point in the struggle for Voting Rights and equality for Black Americans.

Monday, January 18

9 a.m. to 10 a.m.

The second special, a live call-in episode of The Exchange, will air on the MLK Day holiday. and re-air the same evening from 9 to 10 p.m. Host Laura Knoy will talk with Black activists and civil rights historians about recent events and what wisdom and lessons they take from Dr. King’s life and words. Listeners are encouraged to let The Exchange team know how you’re reflecting on MLK day this year either by sending an email to exchange@nhpr.org, or calling in during the live show at 800-892-6477.

Special guests for this episode will include:

• Jason Sokol – professor of history at UNH. Jason is the author of three books: There Goes My Everything: White Southerners in the Age of Civil Rights; All Eyes Are Upon Us: Race and Politics from Boston to Brooklyn; and The Heavens Might Crack: The Death and Legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr.
• James McKim – Manchester NAACP President.

Monday, January 18

2 to 3 pm. (rebroadcast at 8 to 9 p.m.)

The third special, MLK and the Fierce Urgency of Now! by WNYC, will unpack the implications of the 2020 US Presidential Election through the prisms of civil rights and modern day social justice movements. The Black community’s historically adversarial relationship with law enforcement and Western medicine institutions are focal points that will be discussed, made more urgent by the ongoing pandemic. The program will be co-hosted by The Takeaway’s Tanzina Vega, and WNYC’s Jami Floyd and Brian Lehrer.

For details on all of NHPR’s on-air program schedule, click here.