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Lives Less Ordinary

Who is this kneeling man?

Lives Less Ordinary

BBC

Society & Culture, Documentary, Personal Journals

4.6814 Ratings

🗓️ 9 July 2023

⏱️ 55 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

My search for the truth about my father and Martin Luther King’s assassination.

Leta McCollough Seletzky grew up knowing that her father was the ‘kneeling man’, photographed tending to the head wound of Reverend Dr Martin Luther King Jr just moments after he was shot in April 1968. As a teenager she stumbled across an alarming detail about why her father was there on that infamous day; it plunged her into the world of conspiracy theories and family secrets. It would take her many years to dig out his true story.

Presenter: Mobeen Azhar Producer: Rebecca Vincent

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

You are about to listen to a BBC podcast and I'd like to tell you a bit about what goes into making one.

0:06.5

I'm Sadata Sese, an assistant commissioner of podcasts for BBC Sounds.

0:11.1

I pull a lot of levers to support a diverse range of podcasts on all sorts of subjects,

0:16.0

relationships, identity, comedy, even one that mixes poetry, music and inner city life.

0:22.4

So one day I'll be helping host develop their ideas, the next fact-checking, a feature,

0:28.3

and the next looking at how a podcast connects with its audience. And maybe that's you.

0:33.6

So if you like this podcast, check out some others on BBC Sounds.

0:38.3

Who is your pick for the all-time greatest African midfielder?

0:41.9

He's the most naturally talented to play that I played with.

0:44.2

See if your choice made the list on Match of the Day Africa Top 10 from the BBC World Service.

0:49.0

Find it wherever you get your BBC podcasts.

0:57.7

Good. at your BBC podcast. This is a photograph of the moments following the fatal shooting of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

1:11.0

And the day is April 4th, 1968.

1:16.7

It's just after 6 p.m.

1:18.9

And Dr. King lies on his back.

1:24.2

There are several people standing over him,

1:34.2

three of whom are pointing up into the left in the direction from which the fatal shot came.

1:47.6

And there is a man who is kneeling over Dr. King, and with his right hand, he's holding a towel on Dr. King's wounded head.

1:52.6

And that man is my father, Mareil McCullough.

2:02.6

You may have seen the photo too, perhaps in passing or in a textbook, or maybe you've heard it referenced in a song, the Reverend Dr Martin Luther King Jr. lying in a bloody pool on the balcony of the Lorraine

2:10.2

motel in Memphis, Tennessee. The grainy black and white image captures a moment of our history.

2:17.9

But like many moments caught on camera, it doesn't tell the whole story.

...

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