Moxietalk With Kirt Jacobs

Raoul Cunningham has always been passionate about equality and making our system work. Cunningham is currently president of Louisville’s NAACP chapter, the same organization where he started his civil rights career at age 14 in the mid-1950s. Cunningham went from helping with voter registration to taking part in the nonviolent direct action, picketing a Louisville theater on behalf of black students who wanted to see “Porgy & Bess.” He later recruited other young activists, and together they picketed local lunch counters where African-Americans weren’t served. His civil rights work continued as a student at Howard University. Cunningham served on U.S. Senator Walter Huddleston’s staff, working on issues that included civil rights legislation and the Martin Luther King Holiday Bill. Returning home to Louisville, Cunningham served as manager for Georgia Davis Power’s successful Kentucky Senate campaign. Cunningham is the winner of the 2006 Martin Luther King Freedom Award.