Trailblazing journalist Simeon S. Booker Jr. recalls the many death threats and acts of intimidation he endured covering pivotal events during the Civil Rights Movement as a journalist for Jet and Ebony magazines.

“It was harrowing,” says Mr. Booker, now 96.

“It was a very difficult ex- perience,” he adds. “But it just encouraged me to continue to battle segregation to improve the quality of life for my people in the South.”

For his vast contributions in advancing the nation and the cause for civil rights, Mr. Booker was honored with the Martin Luther King Jr. Lifetime of Service Award at last week’s Community Leaders Breakfast at Virginia Union University during the annual King commemoration. Mr. Booker is a VUU graduate of the Class of 1942.

During his iconic, award-winning career that spanned more than five decades, Mr. Booker covered events that changed this nation, such as the heroic steps of nine African-American students — known in history as the “Little Rock Nine” — to attend all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Ark., in 1957, and the Selma to Montgomery, Ala., march for voting rights in 1965, now documented in the movie “Selma.”

But he gained the most acclaim for his fearless reporting on the 1955 murder of 14-year- old Emmett Till in Money, Miss., and the subsequent trial.

Mr. Booker recounts the trial, in which two white men were accused of killing the youth, as if it were yesterday.

Mr. Booker recalls how he befriended Emmett Till’s mother, Mamie Till, as he covered the story of her son’s murder. His body was dumped into the Tallahatchie River after being weighted down with a 70-pound cotton gin fan tied to his neck with barbed wire.

Mr. Booker’s riveting stories and accompanying photographs in Jet captured the world’s atten- tion and showed the racist terror campaigns waged on behalf of Jim Crow.

He reported how Mrs. Till insisted her son have an open - casket funeral in his native Chicago, showing his bloated, mutilated body “to let the world see what they did to my son.”

Mr. Booker says he and a few other African-American reporters covering the trial were assigned to a small table — along with members of Emmett Till’s family — at the back of the courtroom. By contrast, about 100 white reporters documented the historic event sitting near the front of the courtroom.

He recollects how enraged Tallahatchie County Sheriff C.H. Strider stormed up to the African-American press table a few days into the trial.

“He said, ‘Has anyone seen that nigger reporter Simeon Booker?’ ’’ Mr. Booker recalls. “Before anyone could bat an eye, Jimmy Hicks (a reporter with the Amsterdam News in New York) said to Sheriff Strider, ‘He left yesterday.’

“Sheriff Strider said, ‘You tell him if I ever see him again, I’m going to separate his neck from his head.’ ’’ He recalls the “circus-like” atmosphere surrounding the trial and speaks of jurors, courtroom spectators and even the presiding judge, Curtis Swango, drinking soft drinks during the proceedings, and some even popping beers.

“It was a rough time,” Mr. Booker recounts.

The accused killers — Roy Bryant and J. W. Milam — were found not guilty by an all-white, all-male jury of 12. The two men later admitted to the crime.

Mr. Booker’s reporting of the trial electrified the world.

He is credited with helping focus the eyes of the world on the Civil Rights Movement and forever changing history. Mr. Booker was named Jet’s Washington bureau chief shortly after the end of the trial and served in that capacity until 2007, when he retired at age 88.

Mr. Booker today lives in Washington with his wife of 41 years, Carol.

Now wheelchair-bound, the legendary journalist still weaves history through his writing.

In 2013, he released the latest of his three books, “Shocking the Conscience,” which tells of his more than half century on the front lines of civil rights and national politics.

Mr. Booker has written the foreward for an autobiography, “Alone Atop the Hill,” by Alice Dunnigan, scheduled for release later this month. She was the first black female journalist in the White House Press Corps, the U.S. Supreme Court and the House and Senate galleries.

Here’s a look at this week’s Personality, Simeon S. Booker:

Birthplace and date: August 1918 in Baltimore, then moved to Youngstown, Ohio, at age 6.

Family: Wife, Carol, and son, Theodore.

Community involvement: Member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc.

What did it mean to receive the award from Virginia Union: It was a great honor for me as an alumnus of the school that they would recognize me.

What other awards have you won for your distinguished work: I was inducted into the National Association of Black Journalists’ Hall of Fame in 2013. In 1982, I became the first African-American journalist to win the National Press Club’s Fourth Estate Award, and I also won the Newspaper Guild Award and a Wilkie Award.

When did your journalism journey start: I had a poem published by the Youngstown Vindicator when I was in the fourth grade and submitted sports stories while I was in high school and college.

Where was your first big newspaper job: I worked at the Baltimore Afro-American and the Cleveland Call and Post during the 1940s. I was bureau chief at the Washington Post from 1951 to 1953.

How long did you work for Jet and Ebony: From 1953 to 2007, when I retired.

How did you and your wife meet: We were covering the American Negro Leadership Conference on Africa in Washington in the late 1960s. She was a reporter for the Voice of America. I was working with Jet and Ebony. We were married in 1973.

How many copies of Jet sold following the verdict in the Emmett Till trial: I don’t know, but the first run sold out, so they ordered another run and that sold out. Then they had a third run.

Who were some of the black journalists that you knew during the Civil Rights Movement: Jimmy Hicks, L. Alex Wilson and Moses Newson with the Memphis Tri-State Defender (later Chicago Defender).

Who influenced you the most: Carl Murphy, former publisher of the Afro-American, and my uncle, James H.N. Waring Jr. They were classmates at Harvard University. They would take me to Harvard-Yale boat races. They encouraged me to become a journalist.

How many presidential administrations did you cover: Ten.

Which president was most committed to the advancement of civil rights: Even though Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965, I always felt the spirit of his predecessor, John F. Kennedy, was the turning point.

Is the Black Press relevant today: It always will be, even when it’s not on the front line sometimes. It’s in a position to come to the rescue if necessary.

What is the responsibility of the press today, particularly the Black Press: I think the biggest role we have is a high percentage of our people are uneducated and unemployed and we’ve got to rescue as many of them as we can.

How do you start your day: With a breakfast of Honey Nut Cheerios.

What is your favorite late-night snack: Yogurt.

How do you unwind: I like to play dominoes, poker and Solitaire, read the newspaper (Washington Post) and watch TV.

How would you describe yourself: I’m relaxed, always positive, friendly and non- judgmental.

What is your legacy: I’m the son of a Baptist minister who always tried to report the truth and advance the cause of my people.