As America prepares to celebrate and honor the life of Martin Luther King Jr., cable TV networks have a host of special content and programming at the ready for audiences to learn more about the civil rights leader and the watershed events that he inspired following his fight for racial and social justice equality.
Check out a handful of the initiatives and movies that touch on the significance of the upcoming holiday:
- Noticias Telemundo, along with MSNBC, will host town halls in New Orleans focused on advancing racial equity on January 17 for the 7th annual 'National Day of Racial Healing.' The event is the culmination of an editorial initiative between NBCUniversal NewsGroup and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation that began in June 2022, and will stream on NoticiasTelemundo.com and on-demand on Peacock the next day.
- Comcast NBCUniversal's award-winning Voices of the Civil Rights Movement is a multimedia collaboration that started in 2013 and honors the legacy and impact of America's civil rights champions. The platform includes interviews with civil rights icons chronicled by Comcast NBCUniversal as well as stories submitted by the public. Two permanent museum installations were also launched in Chicago and in Memphis as a result of the initiative.
- Peacock has started streaming a new half-hour long TV special that commemorates Martin Luther King, Jr., and Coretta Scott King. "Embrace: The Kings" looks at their life together from the day of their first meeting when he was a doctoral student at Boston University and she was studying at the New England Conservatory of Music.
- HBO Max is streaming movies about Martin Luther King Jr., and other civil rights icons, including, "King in the Wilderness," which chronicles the final chapters of Martin Luther King Jr.'s life, "Boycott," which recounts the story behind the Montgomery, Ala., bus boycott of 1955, and "Malcolm X," a tribute to the controversial black activist and leader of the struggle for black liberation.
- C-SPAN has aggregated video resources in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday to help students learn more about the civil rights icon, the key events in his life, and his legacy related to the civil rights movement. The videos touch on the significance of the holiday, the Smithsonian exhibit, "One Life: Martin Luther King Jr.," the 1963 March on Washington, his final years, and more.
- HISTORY Channel houses a collection of videos, photo galleries, and resources on the life of Martin Luther King, Jr., and the civil rights protests and efforts that he inspired. HISTORY Vault also includes full documentaries on Martin Luther King, Jr., and Black historical leaders.