MLK in Kansas City Share this story Published January 18th, 2021 at 6:00 AM Above image credit: During one visit to Kansas City during the 1960s, Martin Luther King, Jr. sat for an interview with longtime Kansas City broadcaster Walt Bodine and his colleague Bill Griffith. (Courtesy | LaBudde Special Collections, UMKC University Libraries)
She had been sent to get an interview and she would get it, but not without some help. Her assignment: talk to the Black minister, civil rights leader and 1964 Nobel Peace Prize winner – Martin Luther King, Jr. – who had just flown into Kansas City.
“I saw him in the airport corridor,” said Helen Gray, the first Black woman hired as a reporter by the Kansas City Star-Times.
Ready for a New KCI Airport?
As we enter a new year, plans are pretty much on schedule for the new Kansas City International Airport. The completion date for the one million square foot plus facility is early 2023.
As an air traveler leaving and returning to Kansas City through the years, I've seen some changes. The first time I traveled the friendly skies was in the early 70's before the current KCI airport was opened. I flew into and out of the downtown airport (Kansas City Municipal Airport) just off Broadway located across the Missouri river in KCMO.
In 1972 the Kansas City International Airport was built by the city of Kansas City. The current complex spreads across 10,000 acres. Through my years traveling in and out of KCI, I don't think I have had an easier experience of getting in and out of an airport. Maybe I'm biased. I have just always felt comfortable when I've had to fly out of this airport.