A new podcast series focused on the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., produced by The Commercial Appeal, will launch on Friday, March 30.

These four podcasts — on the growth of the Black Lives Matter movement, the surviving sanitation workers and a Prairie View A&M choir that sang for King at the Lorraine Motel just days before he was killed — highlight King’s legacy and trace the lives of people touched by the iconic leader. 

Three of the episodes will be released on Friday, March 30. The fourth and final episode will be released on Thursday, April 5 following the MLK50 events on April 4.

Fifty years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. came to Memphis to rally the city’s striking sanitation workers as they fought for better pay and working conditions after two workers were crushed to death in the belly of a malfunctioning garbage truck.

King’s support of the strikers…