Social media exploded with praise and admiration for Clayton after her speech at Lewis’ funeral, where she told the touching and funny story of how she introduced Lewis to the former Lillian Miles, a “highly intellectual, well-traveled, well-educated” woman.

From introducing them, to setting up a New Year’s Eve “party” for just the three of them, to eliminating a rival for Lewis’ attention, to finally planning their wedding.

“I wanted her to have someone who really would appreciate her skills and her talent,” Clayton explained. “So, I looked around and decided that I liked John.”

“We won’t forget John, but don’t sit here and listen to these praises...do something about the man he asked us to be in ourselves,” Clayton said. “Be kind to everybody. Love everybody. Speak up and speak out. But I want to admonish you, to really give meaning to the John we love: Vote.”

The world is just learning what those in Atlanta have known about Clayton — a broadcast executive, foundation founder, nonprofit executive, television host, producer and BFF — for decades.

Here is are 5 things you need to know about the woman who in 2004 had a Barbie doll created in her likeness:

She is a media trailblazer

Credit: AJC

Credit: AJC

In 1967, when black and white television was basically white, Clayton launched her own television show as host of The Xernona Clayton Show on the then-Atlanta CBS affiliate, WAGA-TV.

With it, she became the first Black woman in the South to host their own daily TV show. After one episode, she influenced Calvin Craig, the Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan in Georgia, to resign from the Klan and renounce the organization.

She later joined Turner Broadcasting, where she first served as a producer of documentary specials and later was a director of public relations. She became a corporate vice president for urban affairs in 1988.

The Atlanta Association of Black Journalists’ scholarship program is named after Clayton.

She still sounds the Trumpet:

Credit: undefined

Credit: undefined

In 1993, to honor the work and performances of Black people in a range of industries, she created the Trumpet Awards, an annual program televised by the TBS network and distributed internationally to over 185 countries.

She now serves as the chair, president, and CEO of the Trumpet Awards Foundation that was formed in 2004.

Also, in 2004, Clayton created the International Civil Rights Walk of Fame at the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park, where she has gathered the shoes of dozens of civil rights workers to get their footprints to create a paved path.

In 2006, hers were added.

X-Squared

Credit: Courtesy, "The Tennessean" Tennessee State University

Credit: Courtesy, "The Tennessean" Tennessee State University

The 89-year-old Clayton and her identical twin sister, Xenobia, were born Aug. 30, 1930 in Muskogee, Oklahoma. Her parents were administrators for the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Muskogee and her father was a Baptist minister.

“My father instilled in us we are as we are, but we had no choice about being born female or black, but to take pride in it and not be embarrassed,” Clayton said. “He said, ‘You have complete control over how you think and feel about other people. Everything else will fall into place.’”

She and Xenobia, with whom she had a majorette act called ‘The Brewster Twins’ in high school and college, attended Tennessee State University, where they were ‘Co-Miss Everything.’

Credit: Courtesy, "The Tennessean" Tennessee State University

Credit: Courtesy, "The Tennessean" Tennessee State University

In 1952, about a decade before Nashville became a hotbed for young civil rights activists, she graduated from what was then Tennessee State Agricultural and Industrial College, where she pledged Alpha Kappa Alpha.

Invaluable Asset

Credit: ccompton@ajc.com

Credit: ccompton@ajc.com

For a time in the 1960s, Clayton worked in Chicago for the National Urban League as an undercover investigator, exposing employee racial discrimination. But her value to the movement came in 1965, when she moved to Atlanta and solidified her friendship with Coretta Scott King and her husband Martin Luther King Jr.

Clayton, who studied music and education, became a valuable member of the Kings’ inner-circle, along with Lewis, Andrew Young and Ralph David Abernathy, helping to plan events and fundraisers for the SCLC’s events, as well as marches. But her closeness, similar to the Lewis love-story, extended beyond formal civil rights. In January 1968, she organized King’s last birthday party in the basement of Ebenezer Baptist Church.

Credit: Johnny Crawford

Credit: Johnny Crawford

Three months later, she was planning his funeral and helping Coretta get through it, at one point convincing a dress shop owner to give her some dresses for the widow. More poignantly, when King’s body arrived back from Memphis it was Clayton who applied his makeup.

In 2008, Clayton told the AJC that when she viewed the body with the family at Spelman College, there was a “big blob on his right cheek. Red like the red clay of Georgia. It was pretty unsightly.”

She asked the mortician to do something about it, but he refused, saying that was the best he could do.

Credit: undefined

Credit: undefined

“I felt so pained by the way he looked…I said, we can’t have it looking like this,” Clayton said. “Sitting on the first bench was Mama King, and she’s dark-skinned. And then I looked at [Harry] Belafonte’s wife, who was white. And I asked them if they had any color. I took their powders and mixed up a little roux, and Belafonte was standing there watching me. And we put his handkerchief around Martin’s neck, and I proceeded to tone this down with the powder I mixed up. It blended more evenly with the rest of his face and made such a difference. Coretta smiled.”

She is still protecting the Kings.

In 2014, when their children were at war over possibly selling his Nobel Peace Prize, she said: “If there is such a thing as people turning over in their grave, then both Dr. King and Mrs. King are twirling. They would be so disappointed if they knew their children were acting like this. And so am I.”

Screams from Skull Mountain

Because of her work with the Trumpet Awards and as a witness to history that makes her a go-to voice on documentaries, Clayton has a long list of credits on IMDB.

But look closely for her 1974 entry as Harriet Johnson in the horror cult-classic, “The House on Skull Mountain.”

Filmed in Atlanta, it is a classic straight out of the Blaxploitation horror playbook: Campy acting, bright-red blood, voodoo and screaming.

Lots of screaming, mostly done by Clayton, who — spoiler alert — is undone by a rattlesnake.

Check out Clayton in the trailer below.

Bonus

Clayton’s look is everything and consistent.

Always impeccable, she is known for her tight upswept bun, always crowned with exquisite headbands from all over the world.

Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC

Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC

At Lewis’ funeral, she wore a mask with a painting of herself on it.

She is also a notoriously early riser.

Meaning meetings and phone calls with her usually start at 6 a.m.

Don’t. Be. Late.