Black History Month: MLK visit to Fort Worth is remembered

As part of our Black History Month series, NBC 5 remembers the only time Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. visited Fort Worth.

It was October 1959, and Fort Worth was still segregated. Historians say King was met with hatred and even a bomb threat when he arrived, but it also brought about a change.

Because they couldn’t find a hotel suitable for housing the civil rights leader, King stayed at a house in the now historic Southside neighborhood. He also performed at the Majestic Theater in downtown Fort Worth, where for the first time black patrons were allowed to enter through the front door and sit in the lower seats.

In 2019, the City Center historical marker was added. The text of the monument tells the story as a reminder to future generations.

Full text on marker:

“Great time to be alive”

On October 22, 1959, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., pastor, civil rights leader, and president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), made his only visit to Fort Worth, Texas. Dr. Wada Phillips Felder, a local educator, activist, and friend of Dr. King, invited him to Fort Worth when they were both attending a church conference in Nashville. Upon arrival, Dr. King was greeted by leaders in the African American community. He also experienced some anger, hatred and bomb threats. He stayed upstairs at Wada Felder’s house on Stuart Street and attended a reception at the Reverends’ House on Bellaire Drive West. Alberta and Harold Langer, Professor of Social Ethics at Bright Bible College (now the Bright Divinity School), Texas Christian University. That evening, Dr. King’s performance at the historic Majestic Theater at 1101 Commerce Street was attended by four hundred people. In this case, the theater was integrated when African Americans were first allowed to enter through the front door and sit in the lower seats.

In 1954, Wada Felder became the first African-American woman to graduate from Bright Bible College with a master’s degree in religious education. She has been a member of the Mount Zion Baptist Church for over 50 years, has been a Christian education writer, founded and directed the United School for Christian Leadership, and has taught at James Guinn Elementary School in Fort Worth and Bishop College. She said Dr. King’s visit “…gave us courage. He taught us that we can stand up and do what is right and do it in peace.”

It was truly a great day to live in Fort Worth, Texas.

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