E 11 Rev. Dr. Harold Middlebrook: If Not Now, When?
Standing Tall with Gloria Johnson
Rev. Dr. Harold Middlebrook: If Not Now, When?
Air Date: 09/15/2026
Guest: Rev. Dr. Harold Middlebrook, civil rights leader, Morehouse College classmate and friend of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and longtime Knoxville pastor
Host: State Rep. Gloria Johnson
Episode Summary
Gloria sits down with Rev. Dr. Harold Middlebrook, a Memphis-born civil rights leader who marched with Dr. King, worked on voter registration drives across the South in the 1960s, and was present at the Lorraine Motel when King was assassinated.
They trace his path from a 10th-grade voter registration drive in Memphis through Morehouse College, Selma, and decades of ministry in Knoxville, drawing direct lines between the fights of the 1960s and what's happening in Tennessee and the country today, from voting rights and book bans to Christian nationalism and the erosion of local political engagement.
🗳️Today is National Voter Registration Day! If you're not registered, or you've moved and need to update your info, today's the day. It takes five minutes and it matters. Head to proudvoter.org to check your status or get registered. Rev. Middlebrook said it best in this episode: getting registered doesn't mean anything if you don't follow through and vote. So let's start with step one, today.
Topics Covered
Rev. Middlebrook's early involvement in voter registration in Memphis as a 10th grader, and his decades of work in political education and civil rights
His years at Morehouse College, meeting Dr. King, and the influence of Morehouse president Benjamin Mays and other mentors
On-the-ground organizing during the Selma voting rights campaign, including the poll tax (retroactive to age 21) and working through fear on plantations
A story about registering an elderly Black man and an elderly white man to vote on the same day, illustrating how poor whites and Black Southerners were both harmed by the same disenfranchising system
His time working under Dr. King and being present at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis at the time of King's assassination
Reflections on Dr. King's final book, "Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?" and the danger of complacency after political victories
The importance of early voting and absentee/mail-in ballots, and a pointed critique of politicians who restrict mail-in voting for others while using it themselves
Local elections (school boards, city councils, county commissions) as some of the most consequential races, tied to a discussion of book bans targeting Black, Brown, and LGBTQ authors in Knox County
Christian nationalism and the church drifting from its founding principles, in his view
A frank discussion of racism, dehumanization, and immigration enforcement, including his own habit of carrying identification given current conditions
Reflections on gender, race, and a controversial point he has made in speeches about what the civil rights movement did for white women's advancement
Closing thoughts on hope: young people beginning to speak up and question the status quo
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Notable People Mentioned:
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Rev. Benjamin Hooks, Benjamin Mays (Morehouse College president)
John Lewis
Jesse Jackson
Julian Bond
Lonnie King
Herschelle Sullivan
James Meredith
Harold Ford Jr.