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Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026

Was Martin Luther King Jr. discriminated against in Sioux Falls?

Michael Klinski, South Dakota News Watch
yes

Civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. had to use a back entrance when he gave a speech and wasn’t allowed to stay at the hotel where he spoke during a Jan. 12, 1961, visit to Sioux Falls.

King arrived in the middle of riots at the University of Georgia after two Black students were admitted for the first time. 

“Mobs function when they feel they are being aided and abetted by law enforcement authorities,” King said of the protests.

His visit was covered with a Jan. 12 front-page photo in the Argus Leader, which was an afternoon newspaper at the time. His speech that evening at the Knife & Fork Club at the Cataract Hotel, however, was relegated to page 10 in the Jan. 13 edition. King also gave a 12-minute long interview to KELO-TV.

Sioux Falls erected a statue of King to commemorate the visit in 2020. 

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