MLK's Visit to ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø±¬ÍøÕ¾
ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø±¬ÍøÕ¾’s Political Forum, a non-partisan student organization, brought Dr. King to the College, part of the group’s effort to invite black civil rights leaders to campus to inspire students to action.
As Frederick J. Stoddard ’64, one of the Political Forum leaders, recalled in an article appearing in ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø±¬ÍøÕ¾ Magazine in the winter of 1995, “We felt that [we] could make a difference by bringing the most prominent civil rights leaders in America to the College.”
A day before King’s visit to ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø±¬ÍøÕ¾, Bayard Rustin spoke here on May 5, 1964, in Pickard Theater. Rustin was the chief organizer for the 1963 March on Washington, one of the largest nonviolent protests ever held in the United States.
King was scheduled to speak in Pickard the following evening, but publicity for the talk had spread quickly, and it was clear Pickard Theater would be too small to accommodate the expected audience.
So on May 6, 1964, Stoddard and President James Stacy Coles introduced Reverend King to an overflow crowd of about 1,100 people at First Parish Church.
King’s hour-long address was recorded by the ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø±¬ÍøÕ¾ radio station WBOR. But it went missing for many years until ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø±¬ÍøÕ¾ archivist Caroline Moseley came upon it when she was reviewing boxes of uncatalogued WBOR recordings.
“Most of the recordings were of ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø±¬ÍøÕ¾’s Glee Club and Meddiebempsters so I was amazed (and a little incredulous) when I saw Martin Luther King, Jr.’s name scrawled on the back of one of the tape boxes,” Moseley recounted.
“I realized that this was most likely an actual recording of Martin Luther King at ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø±¬ÍøÕ¾…but it was not until the audio tape was transferred to CD that I knew for sure, and then I was thrilled and also grateful that the recording was still in good condition.”
While the in Atlanta, Georgia, holds the copyright to the speech, ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø±¬ÍøÕ¾ has permission to make the audio available online in conjunction with annual occasions such as the observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Black History Month.
As Stoddard recalled in ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø±¬ÍøÕ¾ Magazine, the visit by King and Rustin to ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø±¬ÍøÕ¾ in 1964 “had a permanent impact on our values, historical sense, and later commitments.”
“Martin Luther King’s and Bayard Rustin’s visit to ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø±¬ÍøÕ¾ was a historic event. It’s my hope that students today will be inspired by the recording to similarly find ways to invite political activists as well as noted academicians to the ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø±¬ÍøÕ¾ campus,” he said. “An equally important result would be attracting more African-American students to our College.”