Xernona Clayton - The Podcast
The charismatic, incomparable Xernona Clayton is a Civil Rights visionary, innovator, and change agent for good. Since the 1940s, she’s strategized and worked to realize the impossible, build bridges, and bring people together. For the first time, Ms. Clayton shares her incredible life’s story—and what a life it is. At the National Urban League and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, she grew into committed activist-leader, who became deeply involved with the work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and became one of few women in his inner circle. Later, she made history again as the first major black female broadcasting executive and talk show host; founded the Trumpet Awards honoring the achievements of Black Americans; and created the International Civil Rights Walk of Fame. Ms. Clayton has been at the forefront of social change for the better in America for much of the 20th Century. Today, in her 90s, she lives and still works in Atlanta. Listeners to this special oral history podcast will be treated to previously unheard, insider stories from Ms. Clayton, who openly shares the pivotal chapters and personalities of her influential life with candor, humor, and grace. For more, don’t miss Xernona Clayton: A Life in Black & White, airing on Brown Sugar, featuring the largest catalog of classic Black cinema. Go to brownsugar.com.
Episodes
In this final episode, Ms. Clayton’s infectious sense of humor shines through in her conversation with Michelle Miller. Touching on a handful of topics ranging from their shared histories to present day social injustices to helping stem school drop-outs in California. “Before I leave here, I’m going to make Dr. King’s wish for us—to learn how to live together—come true, says 93-year-old Ms. Clayton, referring to her vision of ‘Xern...
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“I don’t plan for mistakes. I plan for perfection,” says Ms. Clayton, referring to her life and the creation of The Trumpet Awards, the celebrated program she conceived that honors the achievements of Black Americans. From a doctor in Chicago who made it possible to store blood donations to Cedric the Entertainer, the cultural contributions and successes of the community are many. “The trumpe...
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In this episode, we meet Xernona Clayton, the Atlanta change-agent connector. At first reluctant, Ms. Clayton shares how she embraced life as a local leader for Civil Rights and the disenfranchised. Hear first-hand how met and socialized with other activists like Andrew Young and John Lewis. She took it upon himself to orchestrate a matchmaking meeting with the learned and enigmatic Lillian, ...
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“Ted Turner is probably the smartest person I ever met,” says Xernona Clayton, who was a trusted colleague and lifelong friend of the philanthropist media mogul and founder of TNT, TBS and CNN. From their daily coffee klatches to lively 4am conversations, theirs is a relationship that endured. Ms. Clayton became Ted Turner’s confidante and worked to improve race relations at the station and n...
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“I was there to be me. I broke the door wide open,” says Ms. Clayton about her pioneering career as a broadcast journalist. As the first Black member of the Press Club, the first to question the lens of an all-White media, and the first Black person to have their own talk show, her legacy as a journalist showed an industry—and America—that race, visibility, and access matters. Ms. Clayton’s c...
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Listen in as Ms. Clayton reveals what it was like on the front lines of the race war in the 1960s; insider information about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 's powerful ‘Letter from a Birmingham Jail’; and behind-the-scenes preparations for the March on Washington and its surprising aftermath. What role did Harry Belafonte and Mahalia Jackson play? And what was different about Dr. King’s departur...
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In our second episode, Xernona Clayton reveals the story behind her nickname “Biggie” and tells stories about her identical twin sister, Xenobia or “Little.” One of the great loves of her life, Xernobia even joined Ms. Clayton and her new husband, editor of Jet magazine, Edward Clayton, on their honeymoon. Life in Los Angeles was glamorous. In white Hollywood, Ms. Clayton made history by fund...
:: DROPPING EVERY TUESDAY SUMMER 2023 ::
In our inaugural episode, Xernona Clayton shares personal recollections (and even funny stories) about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., her upbringing sheltered from prejudice in Muskogee, OK—less than 50 miles from Tulsa, where the Greenwood Massacre took place just a decade earlier—and how current events of the time inspired her to move to Atlanta to join Dr. King in the fight for Civil Rights.
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A first-person oral history with insider stories & reflections from one of the most influential women of the American Civil Rights Movement, whose work and legacy continues today. Are you ready to meet an American icon?
For more, don’t miss Xernona Clayton: A Life in Black & White, airing on Brown Sugar, featuring the largest catalog of classic Black cinema. Go to brownsugar.com.
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